Ross Geller
Ross Geller is one of the six main characters of the NBC sitcom Friends, portrayed by David Schwimmer. Ross is considered by many to be the most intelligent member of the group and is noted for his goofy but lovable demeanor. His relationship with Rachel Green was included in TV Guides list of the best TV couples of all time, as well as Entertainment Weeklys "30 Best 'Will They/Won't They?' TV Couples". Kevin Bright, who was one of the executive producers of the show, had worked with Schwimmer before, so the writers were already developing Ross's character in Schwimmer's voice. Hence, Schwimmer was the first person to be cast on the show.
Appearances
Ross is a paleontologist and has a Ph.D. His romantic feelings toward Rachel Green, which began as a high-school infatuation, are an ongoing theme of his narrative arc. Likewise, their on-again, off-again romantic relationship is a nearly constant theme of Friends.Raised on Long Island, Ross is the elder brother of Monica Geller, and son of Jack and Judy Geller. Ross and Monica are Jewish and see themselves as at least cultural Jews, with Ross taking a more active role in wanting to teach his son, Ben, about the faith. Ross gets divorced and is newly single in the first episode because his wife, Carol, has realized she's a lesbian. Later in the series, he dates Rachel, but they split up when he sleeps with another woman the night they decide their relationship is "on a break". After his relationship with Rachel ends, Ross marries Emily Waltham, the niece of Rachel's boss. However, because Ross says "I, Ross, take thee, Rachel" instead of Emily during the nuptials, the marriage doesn't last long. In season 5, Ross and Rachel drunkenly marry in Las Vegas, and ultimately that marriage results in a divorce as well; however, they confess that if they ever got married properly it would be the one that lasted. Throughout the series, Ross gets divorced three times. In the first episode of Joey, the spin-off series, it is hinted that Ross and Rachel may have gotten married again, as Joey Tribbiani tells his sister Gina that all of his friends are married.
A running theme in Ross's narrative is his competition with Monica, manifested through wrestling and paranoia. As children, they took part in a family football game for the "Geller Cup" every Thanksgiving. This tradition ended in its sixth year after Monica "accidentally" broke Ross's nose. The siblings came up with a dance in primary school called "The Routine", which they performed as adults at Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve in a New Year's Eve TV broadcast. When they were children, Monica felt that their parents favored Ross, but as they grew up, she actually liked Ross as a person and loved him more than simply out of a sense of family obligation. As adults, they became close, though the competition between them was still visible, as seen in the season three episode, "The One with the Football".
Ross often comes into conflict with Phoebe Buffay. His rationality and Phoebe's eccentricity lead to conflict over evolution, gravity, and whether Phoebe's mother was reincarnated as a cat. It is also revealed that Phoebe once mugged Ross when they were teenagers. The two are roommates for a few weeks when a fire forces Phoebe to move out of her apartment. She first moves into Chandler Bing and Monica's apartment but then decides she wants to give the newly engaged couple some privacy, so she moves in with Ross. In a "flashback" episode, they are alone at a bar and start kissing, but the moment quickly passes when Ross keeps bumping his head. Phoebe also helps Ross on numerous occasions, ultimately making him realize that he loves Rachel and they are meant to be together.
Since college, Ross's best friend has been Chandler Bing. In college, they were in a band called Way/No Way, and Ross blamed Chandler when he was caught smoking marijuana. They become brothers-in-law after Chandler married Monica. Though they are best friends, at times Chandler gets annoyed with Ross's geeky behavior.
Ross is friends with Rachel Green, whom he has had a crush on since high school. Rachel viewed Ross as ‘Monica’s geeky older brother’ during high school. During the first episode of the series, when they meet after years apart, he rediscovers his feelings for her. They become close and have an on-and-off romantic relationship through the series. In the final season of the show, Rachel tells him that he means more to her than any other member of their group.
Ross is also close friends with Joey Tribbiani and helps him with auditions. He kisses Joey once in order to help him practice a role as a gay man, only to find out that Joey had already done the audition and didn't get the part. Joey and Ross also briefly try to cut Chandler out of their friend group after Chandler ignores them. They once fall asleep together on the couch after watching Die Hard. Toward the end of the series, however, Ross and Joey become closer friends, often hanging out together after Chandler gets married.
Ross often tries to bring out the best in his friends in difficult situations. For instance, in season 2, he encourages Joey to audition for Another World after being fired from Days of Our Lives despite Joey's refusal to audition for a two-line part of a secondary character. In season 7, he buys Phoebe the bicycle of her dreams but threatens to take it away from her because of her reluctance to learn how to ride it. Also, when he discovers that Joey has a crush on Rachel, he tells him to go for it, even though he finds it difficult to accept the idea of Joey and Rachel being together. Over all, Ross is portrayed as a very sweet, loving, and adorable character who is always looking out for everyone's best interests, and he is often the most mature compared to the rest of the gang.
He has two children:
- Ross's son, Ben , was conceived while Ross and Carol were still married and born at the end of Season 1. Ross shares joint custody of Ben with his ex-wife Carol and her wife Susan. Ben appeared in a total of 24 episodes and was played chronologically as follows: as an infant by Michael Gunderson in Seasons 1 & 2, by brothers Charles Thomas Allen and John Christopher Allen from Seasons 3 to 5, and by Cole Sprouse from Seasons 6 to 8.
- Ross' daughter with Rachel, Emma Geller-Green, was born at the end of Season 8. Rachel's pregnancy was revealed in the season finale of Season 7. The conception of Emma was the result of a one-night stand, which was later revealed in the Season 8 episode, "The One With The Videotape".
Ross had a pet in the first season of the show: a white-headed capuchin monkey named Marcel.
Relationships
Over the course of the show, Ross dates a considerable number of women. He is married three times and divorced three times. His proclivity to marry and divorce is a running gag within the series.- Julie: An old graduate school colleague, portrayed by Lauren Tom. She first appears in the final scene of the Season 1 finale, returning with Ross from an archeological dig in China. They start dating in Season 2 but break up after Ross discovers Rachel's feelings for him and decides he wants to be with her instead. It is heavily implied that she starts a relationship with Russ, an ex-boyfriend of Rachel's with an uncanny resemblance to Ross.
- Bonnie: A love interest introduced to Ross by Phoebe. Bonnie is formerly a militant bald woman who no longer shaves her head. She enjoyed a sex-filled relationship with Ross until a conniving Rachel broke them up by first encouraging Bonnie to shave her head again, which she knows will bother Ross, and later by revealing she was interested in reuniting with Ross.
- Mona: A love interest he met at Monica and Chandler's wedding. Ross becomes paranoid after Mona proposes to send out Christmas cards together, and in a panic decides to give her a key to his apartment. It is later revealed that Mona is unable to say "I love you" yet, and delivers what the female friends refer to as "an emotional slap in the face" with "I love spending time with you". The relationship ends when Mona discovers that Rachel is living in Ross's apartment after Ross neglects to tell her this himself. When he hides in her apartment to retrieve his shirt while she is on a date with another man, Mona, under the belief that Ross wants to win her back, admits she still has feelings for him but states that they both need to move on.
- Chloe: Ross's only connection with Chloe was a one-night stand during a break in his relationship with Rachel, which interferes with their attempt to get back together. Although only covered over two episodes in Season 3, Ross' fling with Chloe would be the basis of the "We were on a break!" running joke that would last until the very end of the series.
- Janice: Ross has a brief fling with Janice, Chandler's ex-girlfriend, in Season 5. Phoebe said they would have very hairy children. Janice ironically dumps Ross because he whines too much. Ross, worried about how his friend would react, tells Chandler, who laughs but chooses to forgive him.
- Elizabeth Stevens : A pretty 20-year-old student who Ross teaches during his first year as a professor. The two go through a tremendous amount of effort to keep their relationship a secret from the faculty, as Ross would get fired for dating a student. He even tries to get on good terms with Elizabeth's father Paul, who in turn threatens to report him to the university. Ross eventually manages to blackmail Paul into pretending to like him by threatening to reveal Paul's embarrassing mirror dance routine to Rachel. Despite Paul no longer being a threat, Ross eventually realizes he sees no future in his relationship with Elizabeth and decides to break up with her due to her immaturity.
- Charlie Wheeler: Ross meets Charlie in "The One With The Soap Opera Party". She is a paleontologist who has recently joined Ross's department. She initially dates Joey but breaks up with him and gravitates toward Ross, after realizing she has more in common with Ross. She eventually reconciles with her ex-boyfriend and breaks up with Ross.
- Cheryl : A very attractive woman that Ross briefly dates. He decides he wants to pursue a relationship with her but is stifled by her incredibly filthy apartment. Despite her own living quarters being littered with garbage and infested with a variety of pests, she can't stand the "weird smell" of Ross' apartment, which is why she doesn't like being there. Ross breaks off the relationship after being covered in trash in an attempt to make out with Cheryl. Monica later visits her and offers to clean her apartment, revealing she "couldn't sleep" after Ross told her about it.
- Jill Green: Ross very briefly dates Rachel's spoiled younger sister Jill after her father sends her to New York City to take lessons from Rachel in self-sufficiency. Although Jill actually finds Ross a geek, she dates him out of spite because Rachel is uncomfortable with it and tells her "she's always wanted what she couldn't have". Ross, upon realizing he is being used, breaks it off with Jill because he does not want to end any possibility there could be of him and Rachel getting back together.