What have the Friends been up to?

Three years on from the end of one of the best sitcoms ever produced, the stars of Friends must be in competition with each other after having an equal sharing of wages on the show. Taking inspiration from a recent documentary about the Pythons after they went their separate ways, I'm going to list how each of these Friends are doing, in terms of their careers and their public persona's.

Jennifer Aniston
Career: Her film roles were really taking off at the beginning of the nineties, but since the end of Friends she doesn't seem to be getting particularly good roles. Films such as Derailed, Rumor Has It and Friends with Money didn't even interest me, although I did fancy seeing The Break Up, I never got around to it! No TV roles on the horizon, except for perhaps a cameo in Dirt (see Courteney Cox).

Life: So we all know about her split with Brad and the embarrassment she must have felt when he ran off with Angelina. Also her very public romance and split with Vince Vaughn. However, now she is rumoured to be thinking about adopting to 'settle down to a stable family life' - except without a man in the picture as she's fed up of dating at the moment.

Courteney Cox Arquette
Career: The Scream trilogy is her best film effort to date, but now she's back on TV starring in her own show - Dirt. Just seen rumours that Jen will be making a guest appearance on the show - possibly as her career is starting to dwindle? It's a cool show, with two very different sides to it. I'm enjoying watching Courteney's character and I'm hoping she'll get her hands a bit more dirty herself! She also has a horror film coming out soon, The Tripper, which her and David star in together.

Life: She's still happily married to David Arquette (although I've read they went to therapy last year to keep their marriage going, so who knows how long they'll last now) and they have at least one child together; possibly could be working on a second. Generally she doesn't seem to be in the tabloids that much, perhaps apart from being too skinny, but which celebrities aren't in the papers for that lately!

Lisa Kudrow
Career: Within a year of Friends coming off the air, Lisa had part-written and executively produced her show, The Comeback. Unfortunately, it didn't do so well and got pulled after only one season, as is the case for a lot of sitcoms in the US. I thought it was quite funny, but also painful to watch as I love Lisa, and didn't know where she ended and Valerie Cherish began!

Lisa has always had her hand in film roles, and that hasn't changed since leaving Friends. She currently has 4 films, either in post or pre-production. She is probably the most versatile actor out of the Friends.

Life: Again, her personal life seems to be quite quiet. She was married in 1995 and has had one son. Nothing to damage her career!

Matt LeBlanc
Career: Unfortunately, Matt decided to cash in on the Friends franchise, and carry on his character of Joey. However, it wasn't as funny or successful and only lasted 2 seasons. Since then, it doesn't look as though he's got anything else on the cards.

Life: He got divorced last year, and also got into a bit of trouble with a stripper who tried to sue him for defamation after he claimed she came on to him. She's dropped the law suit now.

Matthew Perry
Career: His film career has slowed down since the end of Friends, and instead he's been working on TV shows, such as Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. At the moment he is in production with a film called Numb, and has been announced on another project for next year.

Life: As we all know, he had a tough battle with drug and alcohol abuse during Friends as his weight fluctuated from series to series. However, he went to rehab and sorted it by 2002. He was back in the news in 2005, when he went to hospital after a bad reaction to 'prescription drugs'. Not many details were released, which makes me think it was all a bit dodgy, but he hasn't been in the news again since.

David Schwimmer
Career: It was obvious he had directing in mind after leaving Friends as he was given the chance to direct 10 episodes. He went on to direct 2 episodes of Joey, and has now directed his first feature film, a comedy called Run, Fat Boy, Run with Hank Azaria. He has also performed the voice of Melman in Madagascar (and for the sequel being released next year), and in Big Nothing with Simon Pegg. He also made his debut on the London stage with the lead role in Some Girls in 2005.

Life: He doesn't seem to get into too much trouble, but has been linked with a few beautiful women without settling down as yet.

So, to summarise, I think Matthew Perry and Courteney Cox are doing the best out of the six of them with their TV careers and sometimes film roles, although I think Lisa Kudrow is the most versatile actor out of the six of them. David Schwimmer's directing career is now taking off, depending on the reviews for Ran, Fat Boy, Run. Unfortunately, Jennifer Aniston and Matt LeBlanc seem to be going through a dry patch, possibly due to the bad press they've been getting lately, but I'm sure they'll be back with a vengeance soon.