Rachel Green

Rachel appeared in the Pilot episode running into Central Perk in a rain-soaked wedding dress in search of her old friend Monica Geller, with whom she had had little contact since high school (except that she came to the Gellers' house for Thanksgiving during their freshman year of college as seen in a flashback scene). Rachel, unlike Monica, was popular during high school, and had always been promiscuous, which is steadily reflected in a comical sort of way throughout the series until the last couple of seasons. Rachel had fled her wedding to Barry Farber (or Barry Finkle, as has also been mentioned) having discovered she desired the gravy boat that she had been given as a wedding gift more than she desired Barry, Rachel was stuck in a state of arrested development, an adult woman who emotionally had not outgrown adolescence.

Rachel's parents are rich and generally disapproving of her lifestyle in the city. Her mother, played by Marlo Thomas, was comically snobbish and her lack of hands-on mothering skills came into when she offered to be the nanny to Rachel and Ross's baby. Her father, Dr. Green was stern and intimidating, as seen in his behaviour toward Ross when Ross and Rachel were dating.

In comparison to her sisters, however, Rachel was definitely the most grounded and down to earth Green daughter. Her sister Amy (played by Christina Applegate), was rude and shockingly tactless, while her younger sister Jill (played by Reese Witherspoon), was spoiled and vain.