Courteney Bass Cox (born June 15, 1964), also
known as
Courteney Cox Arquette, is an American
actress, best known for her role as
Monica Geller on the
sitcom,
Friends. Courteney has also starred in
Dirt and the
Scream series, and has
guest-starred in
Scrubs.
She is currently starring in
Cougar
Town.
Early life
Born in
Birmingham
, Alabama
, Cox is the
daughter of businessman Richard Lewis Cox and his wife Courteney
(née Bass, later Copeland). She has two older sisters,
Virginia and Dottie and an older brother, Richard Jr. Her parents
divorced in 1974 and her mother was remarried to businessman Hunter
Copeland (uncle to
Ian Copeland).
After
graduating from Mountain Brook High School
in Mountain Brook, Alabama
, Cox left for Mount
Vernon College in Washington DC but did not complete her
architecture course, opting instead to pursue a career in modelling
and acting.
Career
Early career
Cox
studied architecture at Mount Vernon College for
Women in Washington,
DC
, which is now part of George
Washington University
, before she dropped out. She first came to
prominence in the 1984
music video for
Bruce Springsteen's "
Dancing in the
Dark" (in which she was the girl pulled onstage to dance with
Springsteen). Cox is also notable for being the first person to use
the word "
period" on U.S.
television in its
physiological sense, in a 1985 advertising
campaign for
Tampax brand
tampons. Her early film roles include
Masters of the Universe
(1987) and
Cocoon: The
Return (1988). Her early television work includes a
starring role in the short-lived television series
Misfits of Science (1985), and later
a recurring role (1987-89) on the TV series
Family Ties as Lauren Miller, the
girlfriend of
Alex P. Keaton (
Michael
J. Fox). She had a supporting
role as Jewel, the hard-as-nails assistant to
James Belushi's character, in the 1990
fantasy film
Mr.
Destiny. In 1994, shortly before the debut of
sitcom,
Friends, Cox appeared with
Jim Carrey in the film
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
and on
Seinfeld in
The Wife episode as
Jerry's girlfriend named
Meryl.
Friends
Cox in September 1995
Later in 1994, Cox was asked to audition for the part of
Rachel Green on a new sitcom called
Friends, but she was instead cast as the character
Monica Geller. At first the most
famous cast member of the new show, Cox joined fellow castmates
Jennifer Aniston (
Rachel Green),
Lisa
Kudrow (
Phoebe Buffay),
Matt LeBlanc (
Joey
Tribbiani),
Matthew Perry
(
Chandler Bing) and
David Schwimmer (
Ross
Geller) for what would become her most famous role, lasting for
10 seasons until 2004. According to the Guinness World Book of
Records (2005), Cox (along with her female costars) became the
highest paid TV actress of all time with her $1 million-per-episode
paycheck for the tenth season of Friends.
Between seasons five and six, Cox married
David Arquette and changed her name to
Courteney Cox Arquette. An in-joke reference to this is made in the
opening credits of the episode
The One After Vegas, where the rest
of the cast and executive producers have "Arquette" added to their
names. The dedication "To Courteney and David, who did get married"
appears during the fade out to the tag scene.
Later career
After her
Friends role, Cox was producer
Marc Cherry's first choice to be offered a
starring role as
Susan Mayer on
Desperate Housewives.
However, Cox was unavailable due to her
pregnancy and the role went to
Teri Hatcher. A couple of years later, Cox
signed a deal with
ABC Studios (formerly
Touchstone Television), to star in her own series. Since
Friends, Cox has primarily concentrated on her family but
has starred in the
independent film
November (2005), which had
a limited theatrical release, co-starred with
Tim Allen in the critically derided
Zoom and
cameoed in the big budget remake of
The Longest
Yard, as the girlfriend of
Adam
Sandler's character. She supplied her voice for the animated
film
Barnyard. A
Friends reunion film was rumored to be in production;
following the success of
Sex
and the City: The Movie but this has been
denied by
Warner
Bros. and others.
In 2007, Cox starred as Lucy Spiller, a cynical
tabloid editor, in
Dirt, a television drama for the
FX network. Cox and her husband,
David Arquette, were the executive producers of the series.
According to Cox, the series was canceled after the second season
in 2008. In July 2008,
Entertainment Weekly announced
that Cox had signed on to star in a three-episode arc for the
television series
Scrubs. In her first episode, she
makes a reference to the name of the character Dr. Cox, which in
real life is her own. In August 2008, it was announced that there
will be a fourth film in the
Scream series, and that they want
the original actors to reprise their roles. On October 30, 2008,
TV Guide reported that Cox will
be starring in a pilot for a new single-camera comedy series on ABC
called
Cougar Town from
Bill Lawrence. Cox plays a newly
single 40-year-old mother on the hunt for new experiences. Her
co-stars include actresses
Busy
Philipps and
Christa Miller. Cox
filmed the pilot on March 19, 2009. In June 2009,
Scream director
Wes Craven confirmed that Cox and her husband
would both be returning for
Scream
4.
Film career
During her
time on Friends, Cox appeared in the high-profile Hollywood
films Scream
(1996), Scream 2 (1997) and
Scream 3 (2000) as the determined
and driven reporter Gale Weathers. She met her husband,
David Arquette who played her on-screen love interest Dwight
"Dewey" Riley, while filming the first
Scream film. Both
Cox and her husband Arquette will reprise their respective roles
from the
Scream trilogy in 2010's
Scream 4.
Although she starred in several other films during her time on
Friends, none achieved the same level of success as the
show. Such films include
The
Runner,
3000 Miles
to Graceland and
The
Shrink Is In. In late 2003, Cox and Arquette produced one
season of the reality television series
Mix It Up. The
lifestyle show, which aired on the We cable channel, struggled with
low ratings and was not renewed for a second season.Has also
appeared as the children's mother in "Bedtime Stories"
Personal life
Cox Arquette's previous significant others include her step-cousin,
the rock promoter
Ian Copeland and a
long-term relationship with actor
Michael
Keaton from 1989 to 1995. Cox Arquette also dated singer
Adam Duritz of
Counting Crows and appeared in their music
video for song "
A Long December" in
1997. (Duritz has also dated Cox Arquette's
Friends
co-star
Jennifer Aniston.)
Cox married
David Arquette on June
12, 1999. On June 13, 2004, she gave birth to their first child,
daughter Coco Riley Arquette.
Jennifer
Aniston is the baby's
godmother.
Filmography
Film
Television
Awards and nominations
American Comedy
Awards
- 1999: Nominated, "Funniest Supporting Female Performer in a TV
Series" — Friends
Blockbuster Entertainment
Award
- 1998: Nominated, "Favorite Actress - Horror" — Scream
2
- 2001: Nominated, "Favorite Actress - Horror" — Scream
3
Golden Apple
Award
- 1995: Won, "Female Discovery of the Year"
Nickelodeon
Kids' Choice Awards
- 1997: Nominated, "Favorite Television Actress" —
Friends
- 2000: Nominated, "Favorite Television Friends" —
Friends (shared w/Jennifer
Aniston & Lisa Kudrow)
People's Choice
Awards
- 1995: Nominated, "Favorite Female Performer in a New TV Series"
- Friends
- 2009: Nominated, "Favorite New Comedy Series" - Cougar
Town (Executive Producer)
Saturn Award
- 1998: Nominated, "Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture"
— Scream 2
Screen Actors Guild
Awards
- 1996: Won, "Outstanding Performance by an
Ensemble in a Comedy Series" — Friends (shared w/co-stars)
- 1999: Nominated, "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a
Comedy Series" — Friends (shared w/co-stars)
- 2000: Nominated, "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a
Comedy Series" — Friends (shared w/co-stars)
- 2001: Nominated, "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a
Comedy Series" — Friends (shared w/co-stars)
- 2002: Nominated, "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a
Comedy Series" — Friends (shared w/co-stars)
- 2003: Nominated, "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a
Comedy Series" — Friends (shared w/co-stars)
- 2004: Nominated, "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a
Comedy Series" — Friends (shared w/co-stars)
Teen Choice
Awards
- 2000: Won, "Film - Choice Chemistry" —
Scream 3
- 2002: Nominated, "Choice TV Actress, Comedy" —
Friends
- 2003: Nominated, "Choice TV Actress, Comedy" —
Friends
- 2005: Nominated, "Choice Movie Hissy Fit" — The Longest
Yard
TV Guide Awards
- 2000: Won, "Editor's Choice" —
Friends (shared w/co-stars)
TV Land Award
- 2006: Nominated, "Most Wonderful Wedding" — Friends
(shared w/Matthew Perry)
- 2007: Nominated, "Break Up That Was So Bad It Was Good" —
Family Ties (shared w/Michael
J. Fox)
References
- MSN Movies
- Amazon.co.uk: Friends - Series 6 - Episodes 1-4: Jennifer
Aniston, David Schwimmer, Matt Le Blanc, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew
Perry, Courteney Cox, Gary Halvorson: Video
- Friends: The Movie on the cards? -
Telegraph
- "Courteney Cox's Show 'Dirt'
Canceled""FoxNews.com" June 10, 2008 Retrieved June 10,
2008
- "Exclusive: Courteney Cox Checks into Scrubs""EW.com"
July 9, 2008 Retrieved July 9, 2008
- Scream 4 Retrieved on 31-8-08
- Courteney Cox Bringing Sexy Back to Cougar
Town" TV Guide. October 30, 2008.
Retrieved on October 31, 2008;
-
http://www.comedycentric.com/2009/03/02/cougar-town-cast-filling-up/
Retrieved on 2009-04-03
-
http://omg.yahoo.com/photos/courteney-cox-on-the-prowl-in-cougartown/2757#id=1
-
http://omg.yahoo.com/photos/courteney-cox-on-the-prowl-in-cougartown/2757
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