David Schwimmer was done with TV before being cast in Friends

7 June 2021

David Schwimmer was done with TV before joining 'Friends'.

David Schwimmer

The 54-year-old actor starred as Ross Geller in the worldwide hit sitcom - which ran from 1994 to 2004 and focused on six close friends living in New York - but admitted he was so fed up with his ideas being rejected during his stint as Greg Richardson on 1994's short-lived 'Monty' series starring Harry Winkler, that he didn't want to do sitcoms anymore.

He told the 'How I Found My Voice' podcast: [Winkler] was terrific but ... the writers did not embrace my ideas.

"I felt I was basically told 'just say the line, just do as we say' ... and I was so relieved when that show was cancelled after filming 12 episodes."

However, when the offer to join 'Friends' came up, he agreed to it because it felt more "collaborative".

Meanwhile, Schwimmer recently dashed hopes of future 'Friends' episodes.

Fans were overjoyed when he and his five main co-stars - Matthew Perry, Lisa Kudrow, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox and Matt LeBlanc - recently reunited to talk about their experiences on the show for TV special 'Friends: The Reunion'.

And while he can appreciate the clamour for more episodes, Schwimmer insisted he and his castmates and the creators - David Crane and Marta Kauffman - agreed that the show is best left untouched because the characters would all be at such a different stage of their lives.

He said: "The creators of the show are of the same mind as we are, which is that they loved the way it ended.

“The whole show was about a time in those characters’ lives when your friends were your family. At our age, a lot of people have their own families, so there’s really no interest in trying to [recreate] that.”

However, the comedy star was quick to label the reunion special an “emotional” experience, and added that he particularly enjoyed getting together with his co-stars on the original set of the show.

Before he made it big playing Ross on TV at the age of 27, Schwimmer worked in a variety of different jobs, including as a waiter in a restaurant and serving cookie dough in an ice-cream store, in-between his acting jobs to make ends meet.

However, the 'Iceman' star is "grateful" to have had those experiences as a struggling actor.

He said: “I am grateful that I knew who I was and that I had the perspective of having really worked. It helped me navigate some really tricky waters.”