35 of the best cameos and recurring roles on 'Friends'

Reese Witherspoon is one of the most successful actresses in the world, and an Oscar winner thanks to her portrayal of June Carter Cash in “Walk the Line.” With her role on “Friends,” Witherspoon tapped into the menace behind the perkiness that she displayed in “Election.” In two episodes she played Jill Green, the spoiled younger sister of Rachel. Among her transgressions included dating Ross to spite her sister. 

You may have heard that Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt were married for a while. That’s how a major movie star who had never regularly appeared on TV ended up guest-starring in one episode of a sitcom. In a much-publicized appearance, Pitt played Will Colbert, a high school classmate of Ross, Rachel and Monica who had started an “I Hate Rachel Green” Club — which is funny because, you know, Aniston and Pitt were husband and wife at the time.

Joey and Chandler were roommates for most of the run of “Friends,” but for a brief period of time Joey moved out of their apartment. That led Adam Goldberg’s Eddie to move in. Eddie was something of a roommate from hell, but fortunately for Chandler he was around for only three episodes before Joey returned.

Winona Ryder needs no introduction if you watched movies in the ‘90s or are a member of Generation X. She was a huge star before she made her appearance on “Friends.” Ryder played a girl that Rachel kissed in college when drunk, but she denies remembering it happening. Then Rachel kisses her again, and Ryder’s Melissa admits to being in love with her the whole time.

Gary Oldman doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would take a guest role on “Friends,” but then again British actors of his generation aren’t known for being picky with their roles. He plays a British actor, but not himself, in “The One With Chandler and Monica’s Wedding.” While his story with Joey obviously isn’t the focal point of that episode, it provided a little bit of a change of pace.

In time, Alec Baldwin would make the move to television to start vacuuming up Emmys for “30 Rock.” Before that, he dipped his toe into the sitcom world with a two-episode arc as Parker, Phoebe’s short-lived boyfriend. Unfortunately for poor Parker, his constant enthusiasm and energy ended up annoying everybody, Phoebe included.

Susan Sarandon is a living legend, but she’s also been in an Adam Sandler movie so it’s not like she’s averse to taking less-than-glamorous roles. As such, it’s not surprising that she played a one-episode guest performance on “Friends.” Sarandon plays Cecilia Monroe, a soap opera star being written off “Days of Our Lives,” to be replaced by Joey, of all people. It makes sense within the world of the soap…sort of.

John Stamos is a sitcom icon, and we aren’t talking about “Jake in Progress.” The once-and-future Uncle Jesse from “Full House” stepped into a role in the Season 9 episode “The One With the Donor” as Chandler’s coworker who is covertly being interviewed as a potential sperm donor. Then he started hocking Greek yogurt. Stamos, that is, not his character.

Helen Hunt was the star of her own popular ‘90s sitcom, “Mad About You,” that ran concurrently for part of the run of “Friends.” On “Mad About You,” Lisa Kudrow played a character named Ursula, who would pop up on “Friends” as well as Phoebe’s sister. To keep the crossover going, in Season 1 Hunt showed up as Jamie Buchman, her “Mad About You” character, mistaking Phoebe for Ursula.

Jeff Goldblum makes everything better, so it was a wise decision for “Friends” to bring him in for an episode during Season 9, when the show was starting to show its age. The “Jurassic Park” star plays Leonard Hayes, a famous actor and director within the world of the show. He has some interactions with Joey, often involving Joey needing to go to the bathroom very badly. 

Danny DeVito first rose to fame as the gruff, uncouth Louie De Palma on “Taxi.” To a younger generation, he’s known as Frank Reynolds on “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” In between, he plays a stripper on “Friends.” If you know anything about DeVito, obviously he was not what the ladies had in mind when they ordered up a stripper for Phoebe’s bachelorette party.

When Jon Favreau appeared in the third season of “Friends,” he wasn’t yet recognizable for the cult film “Swingers,” which came out around roughly the same time — let alone become part of the Marvel juggernaut. He had been in an episode of “Seinfeld,” though, and then he got a three-episode run on "Friends" as Peter Becker, Monica's immensely rich boyfriend. It didn’t end up working out, of course, because that’s how it goes for most romantic interests in sitcoms.

Charlie Sheen is persona non grata in most of Hollywood now, but he was still something of a movie star in the ‘90s when he popped up on a Season 2 episode. He plays Phoebe's long-lost lover, who returns just as Phoebe is dealing with the chicken pox. Sheen would come and go and then end up with his own sitcom, “Two and a Half Men.” That didn’t end great for him.

When a TV show airs after the Super Bowl, it tends to pull out all the stops. That was certainly the case for “Friends” in its post-Super Bowl show. Julia Roberts was a HUGE movie star, so getting her to make a cameo on a sitcom episode was a nice get for promotional purposes. Her character goes on a date with Chandler, but it doesn’t go well.

One movie star wasn’t enough for “The One After the Super Bowl,” a two-part extravaganza. Jean-Claude Van Damme makes an appearance alongside Julia Roberts, but the Muscles from Brussels plays himself. He finds himself caught in a squabble between Rachel and Monica when he asks Rachel out — right when she was going to ask him if he’s want to go out with Monica. It’s still more respectable than that “Street Fighter” movie.

It’s kind of weird that Bruce Willis, movie star, stopped by for a three-episode arc on “Friends.” This was the ‘90s, mind you, when TV was considered lesser than film. It paid off for Willis, though, as he won an Emmy for his role as Paul Stevens, father to Ross’ young girlfriend. Hey, with the right movie role and a new Bruno album, he could close in on that EGOT.

Isabella Rossellini is a genuine weirdo best known for her disturbing role in the distressing “Blue Velvet.” Despite that, she got to appear on “Friends” as herself. Rachel, despite being in a relationship with Ross at the time, encourages him to hit on her. It does not go well.

Sean Penn is probably the strangest celebrity guest-star appearance of them all. Not only was he a major movie star in the ‘90s, though he wasn’t a two-time Oscar winner yet, but he doesn’t seem like a fun guy who would randomly show up on a fairly goofy sitcom. However, he did, and he played Eric, Ursula’s fiancé, for two episodes.

If we’re ranking Ben Stiller’s sitcom guest star roles, Tony Wonder on “Arrested Development” would have to top the list. Nevertheless, we can’t overlook his one-episode role on “Friends.” In “The One With the Screamer,” he plays the titular screamer, who also happens to be Rachel’s date.

Christine Taylor, in addition to being Ben Stiller’s former wife, has been a known actor ever since she appeared on the Nickelodeon show “Hey Dude” as Melody. She’s more likely remembered as Sally Sitwell on “Arrested Development” or Marcia in the spoof “Brady Bunch” movies. For three episodes, her Bonnie dates Ross, who then breaks up with her because Rachel says she wants to get back together. Ross and Rachel were the worst.

Reese Witherspoon isn’t the only one who got to play a spoiled Green sister. Later in the show’s run, when Witherspoon was presumably too busy, Christina Applegate played Rachel's other sister, Amy Green. However, though Applegate doesn’t have an Oscar, she does have an Emmy thanks to her role on “Friends.”

Hank Azaria’s most memorable TV work is as a voice on “The Simpsons,” but he also had a nice little arc actually appearing on “Friends.” Azaria played David, a scientist who was Phoebe’s first real love interest. He was in five episodes total, including a couple of later ones after he had disappeared to Minsk for research.

The legendary comedians Billy Crystal and Robin Williams — their resumes are well-known — made a fairly brief cameo in a third season of “Friends.” They show up in Central Perk to do a little comedy before disappearing. It was pretty frivolous but certainly memorable given the names involved.

Chandler’s father was often mentioned during the run of “Friends” due to the fact that he was a drag star in Las Vegas under the name Helena Handbasket. When he finally shows up, he is portrayed by Kathleen Turner, who is of course a woman, albeit one with a husky voice. This might lead one to assume that Chandler’s father had transitioned, but the show seems to stick to the assertion that he is still a man, albeit a transvestite/drag queen. If "Friends was made now, the show would probably be clearer about that.

Elliott Gould was a movie star in the ‘70s, and you may know him from “Ocean’s Eleven” and  the sequels. “Friends” fans definitely remember him, as he played Ross and Monica’s father, Jack, in 20 episodes. Jack and his wife, Judy, played by Christina Pickles, appeared in every season, and Gould brought his gravitas to the role, making Mr. Geller rather memorable.

The ageless Paul Rudd looks basically exactly the same as he did when he appeared on “Friends” back in the day. He actually found himself with a significant role late in the show’s run, playing not just a love interest, but a spouse. Rudd portrayed Mike for 17 episodes, during which he wooed, and married, Phoebe. He even appears in the series finale, which is not too shabby for a guest star.

Here’s one way, probably the only way, David Arquette is like Brad Pitt. Arquette, who was married to Courteney Cox for a spell, showed up in “The One With the Jam” as Malcolm. More notably, during the run of “Friends” there was a time when Cox was credited as “Courteney Cox-Arquette,” and for one episode everybody added “Arquette” to their names in the credits as a gag.

Tate Donovan and Jennifer Aniston had been a couple, and in fact engaged, for a time, but they had reportedly broken up before the actor even made his first appearance on the show. Donovan would eventually play Rachel's love interest, Joshua Burgin, for five episodes. On top of that, Joshua’s dad was played by John Bennett Perry, father of Matthew Perry, aka Chandler Bing.

Tom Selleck’s Richard is perhaps the most memorable of the short-term love interests on “Friends.” Selleck and his iconic mustache made nine appearances over a few different seasons as Monica's love interest and eventual boyfriend  — this despite the fact they were 21 years apart in age, which was the entire “hook” of the character. Still, Selleck was an affable presence, much as he was as the star of “Magnum P.I.”

For a time, Elle Macpherson was arguably the most famous supermodel in the world before trying her hand at acting. One of those roles was on “Friends,” where she played Joey’s new roommate Janine for five episodes. They eventually end up dating, because dating was pretty much the only idea the “Friends” writers seemed to have for characters, but that ended since Janine was not a fan of Monica and Chandler.

“Friends” liked to pull out the big guest stars to play members of Rachel’s family. In addition to Reese Witherspoon and Christina Applegate as her sisters, Marlo Thomas showed up as Rachel’s mother, Sandra. Unlike Rachel’s sisters, Sandra is a little nicer and more laid back. Thomas’ character appeared three times, which isn’t quite as many appearances as she had on “That Girl,” but that makes sense as she was the star of that show.

Giovanni Ribisi is perhaps best known these days as "Sneaky Pete" for his show on Amazon, but before his star-making turn in "Saving Private Ryan" he was on “Friends.” Ribisi appeared in nine episodes as Frank Buffay Jr., Phoebe’s half brother. The 18-year-old is in a relationship with his home economics teacher, and they eventually end up married and wanting to have children. The couple actually, and memorably, get Phoebe to be their surrogate, and she eventually gives birth to triplets.

“Friends” was often chastised for being a lily-white show, which is not unfair. The addition of Tyler as a love interest for first Joey and then Ross did seem to be a response to that, or at least it plausibly could have been. Tyler, known for her stand-up work or as a one-time host of “Talk Soup,” played Charlie Wheeler for nine episodes. She would actually leave Ross for another paleontologist, Benjamin Hobart, who happened to be played by Greg Kinnear.

George Clooney would have loved to have been on a show like “Friends” as he languished in sitcom guest-star hell. Then he got “E.R.,” and eventually he became a movie star. Clooney and Noah Wyle, who also portrayed a doctor on “E.R.,” played, fittingly, doctors in a Season 1 episode of “Friends,” and they go on a double date with Rachel and Monica. There is also a case of mistaken identity.

Hugh Laurie is now famous for playing Dr. Gregory House, but "House" didn’t start until 2004. When Laurie appeared on “Friends” in a brief cameo, he wasn’t a star in the United States yet. However, he had been a star in Britain for years, fitting for his role as a man annoyed with Rachel on their flight to London. To make matters worse, he takes Ross' side on the matter of whether or not Ross and Rachel were "on a break."