The Sex And The City Star Who Auditioned To Play Monica On Friends
In the 30 years since "Friends" went on the air, the sextet has established itself as a Mount Rushmore of pop culture. But before Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and the late Matthew Perry were locked in, countless actors auditioned for the show. Finding Monica was a particular challenge for Marta Kauffman and David Crane, who were initially looking for a Janeane Garofalo type and also considered Nancy McKeon from "The Facts of Life." Another actor who auditioned was future "Sex and the City" star Kristin Davis.
Davis is the first to admit that she didn't exactly come close to nabbing the part. "I think I was about one of like 8,000 young ladies who read for Monica," the actor explained during an appearance on "The Late Late Show with James Corden" in December 2021. Davis continued that she and Cox were chummy back in 1994, and that the pair went to the same yoga class along with other working actors.
"We would hang out after class, and one day Courteney was like, 'Hey guys, do you want to come car shopping with me?'" Davis added. "She said, 'I did this pilot, I'm feeling really good about it, I think I'm going to buy a Porsche.'" Cox, it turned out, was right to feel confident. "It was 'Friends,'" Davis said, "and it did go very well."
Kristin Davis later guest-starred on Friends
A few years into "Sex and the City," Davis reunited with her old yoga buddy Courteney Cox for a guest-starring role on "Friends." In the Season 7 episode, titled "The One with Ross' Library Book," Davis plays Joey's girlfriend, Erin. Rachel and Phoebe become enamored with Joey's flavor of the week, and they encourage him to take the relationship seriously. Erin seems like Joey's type — she is a beer-drinking baseball fan, after all — but she breaks it off with him, much to Rachel and Phoebe's dismay.
Davis' own life-changing casting had arrived by then, and she shot the "Sex and the City" pilot in 1997. Despite starring on a successful show of her own, Davis still felt intimidated on the "Friends" set in 2000. "I remember losing sleep," she told TODAY. "I was nervous to be the tiny character of Erin...partly because of the live audience, but partly because you're in this world that has been created that is so alive and so specific and you're trying to make sure you're fitting yourself in there properly."
It technically wasn't Davis' first time on the "Friends" set. While guest-starring on "ER" in 1995, Davis and George Clooney walked across the street of the studio lot to watch the cast film the Season 1 classic "The One with All the Poker." "I remember being blown away by their confidence level and their synergy as a group," she said.