Courteney Cox


Courteney Bass Cox is an American actress, producer, and director. She gained worldwide recognition for her starring role as Monica Geller on the NBC sitcom Friends and as Gale Weathers in the horror film series Scream.
On television, Cox starred as Lauren Miller in the NBC sitcom Family Ties, Lucy Spiller in the FX drama series Dirt, and as Jules Cobb in the ABC/TBS sitcom Cougar Town, the lattermost of which earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination.
Her other films include the action fantasy Masters of the Universe, the comedy , the animated comedy Barnyard, the fantasy comedy Bedtime Stories, and the independent drama Mothers and Daughters.
She owns the production company Coquette Productions, which was created by Cox and her then-husband David Arquette. She also worked as a director on her sitcom Cougar Town, the television drama film TalhotBlond, and the black comedy drama film Just Before I Go.

Early life

Cox was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. She is a daughter of businessman Richard Lewis Cox and Courteney Copeland. Cox has two older sisters, Virginia and Dorothy, and an older brother, Richard Jr. Her parents divorced in 1974 and her mother then married businessman Hunter Copeland.
After graduating from Mountain Brook High School, Cox left for Mount Vernon College in Washington, D.C., but did not complete her architecture course, opting instead to pursue a career in modeling and acting. She has English ancestry.

Career

Early career

Cox appeared in the 1984 music video for Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" as the young woman pulled onstage at the St. Paul Civic Center to dance with Springsteen. Her early television work includes a starring role in the short-lived television series Misfits of Science, and later in a recurring role as Lauren Miller, the girlfriend of Alex P. Keaton in the TV series Family Ties. Her early film roles include Masters of the Universe, ', and I'll Be Home for Christmas. She played Jewel Jagger, the tough-as-nails assistant of Larry Burrows, in Mr. Destiny. In 1993, she co-starred in the short-lived CBS sitcom The Trouble with Larry with Bronson Pinchot and Perry King. The following year, shortly before the debut of the sitcom Friends, Cox appeared with Jim Carrey in ' and as Jerry Seinfeld's girlfriend, Meryl, in the Seinfeld episode "The Wife". In 1995, she was cast in Toad the Wet Sprocket's music video "Good Intentions". The song is also on the Friends soundtrack.

''Friends''

Later in 1994, Cox was asked to audition for the part of Rachel Green on a new sitcom, Friends; she was cast as Monica Geller instead.
At first the most famous cast member of the new show, Cox joined Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer for what became her most famous role, lasting for 10 seasons until 2004. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Cox became the highest-paid TV actress of all time, with her 1 million-per-episode fee for the final two seasons of Friends.
Between seasons five and six, Cox married David Arquette and consequently changed her name to Courteney Cox Arquette. A joke reference to this is made in the opening credits of the episode "The One After Vegas", where the rest of the cast has "Arquette" added to their names. The dedication "For Courteney and David, who did get married" – a reference to Monica and Chandler's decision not to marry in the episode – appears during the fade out to the tag scene.

Film career

Cox also appeared in the high-profile Hollywood films Scream, Scream 2, and Scream 3 as 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 Arquette reprised their respective roles from the Scream trilogy in 2011's Scream 4. The film was released in theaters April 15, 2011.
Her other films include Ace Ventura: Pet Detective with Jim Carrey, 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.

Later work

After the conclusion of Friends, Cox was producer Marc Cherry's first choice to be offered a starring role as Susan Mayer on Desperate Housewives, but Cox was unavailable due to her pregnancy and the role later went to Teri Hatcher. A few years later, Cox signed a deal with ABC Studios to star in her own series.
After Friends, Cox starred in the independent film November which had a limited theatrical release; costarred with Tim Allen in the critically derided Zoom, and cameoed in the big-budget remake of The Longest Yard as Lena, the girlfriend of Paul Crewe. She voiced Daisy in the animated film Barnyard. A Friends reunion film was rumored to be in production following the success of Sex and the City, but this has been denied by Warner Bros. and others.
Cox starred as Lucy Spiller, a cynical tabloid editor, in Dirt, a television drama for FX. 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 2009, Cox began her roles as the star of the single-camera comedy series on ABC called Cougar Town, playing a newly single 40-year-old mother on the hunt for new experiences. It is notably Cox's most successful work since Friends. The show's third season was to premiere in November 2011, but was moved to February 14, 2012. In the third season, Cox directed two of the show's 15 episodes of that season. The show's fourth season premiered on January 8, 2013. She also starred in a three-episode arc on former Friends co-star Lisa Kudrow's online web series Web Therapy.
In June 2012, Cox directed and made a cameo appearance in a Lifetime television movie called TalhotBlond, which premiered on the network on June 23, 2012.
In July 2020, it was confirmed that Cox would be reprising her role as Gale Weathers for the fifth Scream film, which will be directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. The film will be released sometime in 2021.

Personal life

Cox's previous boyfriends include rock promoter Ian Copeland, actor Michael Keaton, and singer Adam Duritz of Counting Crows.
Cox married actor David Arquette on June 12, 1999, at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. The couple had a daughter together named Coco, born in June 2004. Cox revealed that she suffered from postpartum depression six months after the birth of her child. Jennifer Aniston is the godmother. On October 11, 2010, it was announced that Cox and Arquette had separated, although they still maintain a close friendship and ongoing business relationship in Coquette Productions. In June 2012, Arquette filed for divorce after nearly two years of separation from Cox. The divorce became final in May 2013.
Cox began dating Snow Patrol band member Johnny McDaid in late 2013. The couple announced their engagement on Twitter on June 26, 2014. Soon afterward they called off the engagement, but they have remained a couple.
On the Season 8 premiere episode of the American genealogy documentary show Who Do You Think You Are?, whilst visiting Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire, UK, it was discovered that Cox is an 18 and 19-generation descendant of two key players involved in the deposing and likely murder of King Edward II of England in 1327, and also a 27-generation descendant of William the Conqueror. Cox is a practitioner of Budokan karate.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

Awards and nominations

Honors