Ross Geller

From Friends Central

CHARACTER
Ross Eustace Geller
First appearance	The Pilot
Last appearance	The Last One
Number of episodes	236
Portrayed by	David Schwimmer
Information
Gender	Male
Date of birth	October 18, 1967
Occupation	Paleontologist College Professor
Relatives	Biological: Jack Geller (father) Judy Geller (mother) Monica Geller (sister) Ben Geller (son) Emma Geller-Green (daughter) Ida Geller (grandmother) Althea (grandmother) Adoptive: Jack Geller-Bing (nephew) Erica Geller-Bing (niece) Marital: Carol Willick (ex-wife) Emily Waltham (ex-wife) Rachel Green (ex-wife) Chandler Bing (brother-in-law)

Ross Eustace Geller, Ph.D. (born October 18, 1967) is a fictional character on the popular US television sitcom Friends (1994–2004), played by David Schwimmer.

Contents 1 Background 1.1 Family 1.2 Habits 2 Story 2.1 First divorce 2.2 Julie or Rachel 2.3 The jealousy, the break-up and the reconciliation 2.4 Dry time 2.5 Rachel's Pregnancy and Emma 2.6 Final Season 3 Relationships 3.1 Carol 3.2 Emily 3.3 Rachel 3.4 Phoebe 3.5 Marcel 3.6 Joey 3.7 Chandler 3.8 Monica 4 Personality 5 Career 6 Apartment 7 Age and birthday 8 Children 9 Production

[edit] Background

[edit] Family

Ross is the older brother of Monica Geller, and was the favored child of their parents. Ross was described as a "medical marvel" when he was born, because his mother was originally believed to be barren (there may have been some discrepencies when the writers came up with the story, as in another episode Jack Geller mentioned that they got married after Judy got pregnant). The two siblings are extremely competitive, as demonstrated in "The One With The Football" where it emerged that every Thanksgiving during their childhood they had taken part in an football match called "The Geller Cup". This family tradition ended in its sixth year, after Monica broke Ross's nose. In their childhood, Monica and Ross were also very violent with each other. For example, Monica once hit Ross with a giant pumpkin and Ross once jammed a stick through the spokes of Monica's bike, causing her to flip over and hit her head on the curb. In "The One With The Inappropriate Sister", they told Rachel how they used to wrestle when they were younger. Ross is also allergic to lobster, peanuts and kiwi as revealed by Monica in "The One With The Baby On The Bus".

Ross, Monica, Jack and Judy are all Jewish, as professed in the episode "The One With The Holiday Armadillo".

Ross tries to convince one of his friends to act for the best in difficult situations, even though such actions may be difficult to carry out. In season 2, he encourages Joey to audition for Another World after being fired from Days of Our Lives, despite Joey's refusal to present himself for a two-line part of a secondary character. In season 7, he gets Phoebe the bike of her dreams, but threatens to take it away from her because of her reluctance to learn how to ride it.

[edit] Habits

Despite being one of the most financially secure members of his group, Ross is notoriously cheap. He gets his hair cut at the bargain chain "Super Cuts", steals toiletries and other amenities from hotels, and celebrates with Israeli champagne.

Ross is often mocked by his friends about his annoying habits of correcting people's grammar (much to the dismay of Monica, who says "Is it how he's always correcting people's grammar? Whom.. Whom.. sometimes it's who!") and avoiding straightforward dialogue when nervous.

[edit] Story

[edit] First divorce

Ross divorces Carol sometime before "The Pilot", thus leading him into depression until he meets Rachel whom had just escaped from her wedding with Barry (The Pilot). He also learns that Carol is pregnant. Eventually he gets a new place all by himself, and due to the loneliness he buys Marcel, tough their relation is a little bit troubled. Then he realises he fell for Rachel but his plans are ruined when Rachel meets Paolo, an Italian guy whom Ross deeply hates (The One with the Blackout) This Relationship seems to disturb Ross deeply, and he keeps his feelings for Rachel excpet when he overdoses himself with medicine in Nana's funeral, he admits his feelings, but Rachel believing him to be just friends feelings admits "I love you too" much to Ross's dismay who claims "You don't get it"(The One Where Nana Dies Twice) His hate towards Paolo begins to grow that even Chandler's mom, Nora, comforts him and tells him that someday he and Rachel will end up together, then they kiss, much to Chandler's annoyment. ([[The One With Mrs. Bing) Eventually Rachel breaks up with Paolo for trying to make a move on Phoebe (The One with the Dozen Lasagnas) He tries to make a move on Rachel but she claims that she is sick of man and doesn´t want to know more about men. Then the girls play against the boys poker but fail, to which Ross becomes severly competitive towards Rachel, who at the time was waiting for a response to her job interview, but at the end Rachel wins the poker match, hinting that Ross may let her win, thus bringing his feelings back (The One With the Poker) Then he tries to make a move on Rachel but she loses his monkey, but when the situation is resolved Barry, who was engaged at the time with Mindy(Rachel's former best friend) interrumpts and claims his love for Rachel(The One with the Evil Ortodonsist) He then has to get rid of Marcel because the latter had just achieved the sexual maturity (The One With The Fake Monica) Then Ross tries to make a move on Rachel, yet again, but this time he is interrumpted by Ben's birth. In the hospital he begins fighting Susan due to the name of the baby, so a disturb Phoebe locks them all in a closet, they try to break out but they can´t so Phoebe dresses as a Janitor "Ben" and climbs to the ventilation duck, but then the real janitor sets them free, when his son is finally born he and Susan decide to name him Ben.(The One with the birth) He then leaves to China and during his absence Chandler lets slip that Ross is in love with Rachel. A disturbed Rachel decides to let the whole thing slip but then an apparition of Ross appears to her during a date. "He" convinces her to give it a shot, so she rushes to the airport to receive Ross. Ross was actually getting off the plane with another woman.

[edit] Julie or Rachel

In the second season Ross had to choose between his new girlfriend, Julie, or Rachel.To help to decide who he would choose he(with help from Joey and Chandler)made a list of pros and cons for Rachel and Julie. Rachel then found the list and got mad at Ross and harbored a grudge aginst him. But when Monica found a video of her and Rachel getting ready for thier prom she discovered that Ross was going to take her to the prom when her date stood her up, but as he came down the stairs he did show up leaving Ross heartbroken.Rachel then kissed Ross.

[edit] The jealousy, the break-up and the reconciliation

Ross and Rachel's relationship was strained as Rachel got too busy working at Bloomingdales. Ross get jealous at Rachel's co-worker, Mark Robinson, who he is convinced is in love with Rachel. Ross brings a picnic basket with food to Rachel's office as she had to work overnight on their anniversary which leads to them having a heated argument when they return to Monica and Rachel's apartment. Rachel then suggests that they should "take a break". After this Ross got drunk and slept with Cloe the copy girl.Rachel found out and they broke up. In the season 4 premiere they got back together but after reading a 18 page (Front and back) letter that Rachel had wrote saying she wanted him to take full responsibility for eveything that went wrong in their relationship which pushed him over the edge firmly ending their relationship.

[edit] Dry time

Before his One night stand with Rachel Ross went through a 6 month dry period, so he asks Joey for advice

[edit] Rachel's Pregnancy and Emma

Rachel and Ross had a baby at the end of Season 8, named Emma, who was conceived after a one-night stand during Season 7. Although Ross originally wanted to get married, Rachel refused becasue she thought they were not in love and Ross did it only for the baby, Ross missed two precious chances to get back together with Rachel in the episode The One With Rachel's Date and The One With The Cooking Class, so they chose to remain just friends and live together to raise Emma (until after a big argument, after which Rachel moved back in with Joey). After Emma was born, in the final episode of Season 8, we are led to believe that Ross was about to propose to Rachel, at the same time as Joey accidentally proposes to Rachel. Throughout the beginning of Season 9, questions rose again by all of the friends about why Ross and Rachel wouldn't get together.

[edit] Final Season

In the Final Episode it is revealed that Ross was still in love with Rachel and went after her in Phoebe's Grandmothers cab but ended up at the wrong airport then to the right airport where he (with Phoebe's help) told her that he loved her. But Rachel still left and when he got home he listened to his messages and got a message from Rachel saying she loved him too and he heard a fight she had with the flight attendant to get off the plane.Ross responded by saying:

Ross: Did she get of the plane?!Did she get of the plane?!

Rachel: I got off the plane.

With the audience cheering they then kissed and they decided that this time was the real deal and Ross said:

Ross: Unless we're on a break.

(Audience laughs)

Ross: Don't make jokes now.

In the end, Ross and the others go to have one last cup of coffee at Central Perk. The final scene of the series is Ross and Rachel holding hands.

[edit] Relationships

[edit] Carol

Ross divorced his first wife of seven years (although in the beginning claimed to be four years), Carol, when it emerged that she was a lesbian and was having an affair with another woman. However, in a flashback episode to when he and Carol were newly dating, he gushed about how "she's on the lacrosse team and the golf team" and he enthuses that "she plays for both teams!". They still got along fairly well, however, and shared custody of their son Ben, who was born in 'The One with the Birth', one of the final episodes of the first season. Ross' age when he married Carol is, considering he states he's "26 and divorced" during the first episodes of the series, either 22 or 18. Since the latter has been referenced more (they claim to be married in 1989, when Ross was 21) it is safe to assume they both got married at around 18, during Ross' stay at college.

In an alternate reality storyline during the show ("The One That Could Have Been, Part 1"), Ross remained married to Carol, but their sex life was stagnant. He doesn't seem to realize Carol is a lesbian. When Ross suggests to Carol that they have a threesome, she not only is all for it, but has the perfect woman: Susan. While sitting on the couch, Ross expresses to Carol that he's nervous about the threesome and asks her if she is still willing to go through with the plan, to which she excitedly and rapidly replies "Yes!". Susan knocks on the door and Carol greets her all the while not taking their eyes off each other. Carol and Susan hold hands as Susan takes off her coat and hands it to Ross while Carol introduces them, all the while not losing eye contact. Later at the hospital, Ross tells Joey about the threesome in a bragging manner to which the conversation later dies down to him explaining how he got "bored" in the process and ended up making himself a sandwich. Ross is forced to accept that his wife is gay, and he ends up consoling Rachel after she discovers that her fiance (Barry Farber, whom she leaves at the altar in "The Pilot") is having an affair as well.

[edit] Emily

Ross's second marriage, to his English girlfriend Emily Waltham, appeared more hopeful than his first. The wedding took place in London (in a half-demolished building, where her parents were married), where Joey and Chandler were both the best man and Monica was a bridesmaid. (Phoebe could not attend as she was too far into pregnancy, and Rachel only came at the last minute.) However, at the ceremony Ross said Rachel's name instead of Emily's which led to the complete breakdown of his relationship. Ross attempted to reconcile with Emily, but she insisted that Ross never see nor speak to Rachel ever again. Ross was originally unable to decide but Rachel tells him to just give Emily what she wants without knowing what Ross had to do. In the end, however, Ross was unable to comply; when Emily found out that Ross had been spending time with the friends (including Rachel) she realized she could never trust Ross again, and the marriage quickly dissolved. She later got engaged but on the night before her wedding she left Ross a message on his answering machine saying she was having doubts about getting married. Rachel accidentally deleted the message, and convinced Ross not to call her back.

[edit] Rachel

Ross's relationship with Rachel is the most-well known and possibly the most complex relationship of the series. Ross had been in love with Rachel Green since his ninth grade, when he was in college and Rachel was Monica's best friend. When Rachel later moved to the city, Ross's affection returned. Throughout the majority of the first season, Ross tried to admit his feelings to Rachel, but was never successful. At the end of the season, Chandler convinced Ross to stop pursuing her. Ross left on a work trip, and while he was gone Rachel finally learned of Ross's feelings. She went to the airport to meet him when he returned, hoping they could be together. However, Ross arrived with his new girlfriend, Julie, on his arm. Ross found out how Rachel felt in "The One Where Ross Finds Out" and they shared their first kiss. The two finally got together in "The One with the Prom Video", and their relationship lasted for a year until Ross's jealousy over Rachel's co-worker Mark broke them apart. Believing them to be "on a break", Ross slept with Chloe (Angela Featherstone), the "hot girl from the copy place with the belly-button ring". When Rachel found out, she broke up with Ross. The scene was so emotionally intense that both David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston reportedly started to cry near the end of the episode, and continued after it was shot.[citation needed]

The two shared an "almost on-again, almost off-again" relationship over the years, and actually got married after a drunken night in Las Vegas. This wasn't resolved until weeks later when Ross, unable to get an annulment, realized they had to get a divorce. Ross began to panic over the fact that he was going to be divorced for the third time. Later in the series, they slept together again and conceived Ross's second child, Emma. Phoebe, in the episode where Emma was born, tried to convince Ross to get back together with Rachel. He decided to ask Rachel if they'd want to "start things up again", but she in the meantime said yes to an accidental proposal by Joey out of fear that she might wind up alone. After this misunderstanding was resolved, Ross and Rachel started to raise Emma together until a fight caused Rachel to move back in with Joey.

In season ten, Rachel lost her job at Ralph Lauren but was offered a job by Mark at Louis Vuitton in Paris. Ross initially tried to bribe her boss at Ralph Lauren to hire her back, but didn't succeed until he accidentially found the boss'son 'little Ross' who also obsess on dinosaurs.However, Rachel insisted going to Paris and almost persuaded everyone. After her going away party, Rachel told Ross that he was the most important person in her life, the reason she didn't say goodbye to him is because she cared him so much and they ended up sleeping together. Ross, hoping the next morning to get back together with Rachel in "The Last One", was shocked to find out that she thought their night together was "the perfect way to say goodbye". After she left for the airport, Ross was unable to deny that he wanted her in his life. Ross rushed to the airport to tell Rachel how he felt about her. Stunned and unable to think of what to say, Rachel still decided to get on the plane first. Devastated, Ross returned to his apartment and found a message from Rachel saying that she loved him too and was trying to get off the plane. Finally Rachel appeared at his apartment door and the pair kissed, promising each other that "this is it. No more fooling around." In the final scene of the series, they were shown holding hands.

In Joey, a spin-off show from Friends, Joey stated that all of his friends were married and settled down, so it can be assumed that Ross and Rachel had married again.

[edit] Phoebe

Ross often came into conflict with Phoebe Buffay. His rationality and Phoebe's self-devised beliefs led to conflict over the theories of evolution, gravity, and whether or not Phoebe's dead mother was reincarnated as a cat. It was revealed in "The One With The Mugging" that Phoebe once mugged Ross when she was thirteen. The evening Ross found out that Carol was a lesbian, he and Phoebe almost had sex in the club that was to become Central Perk, but they were interrupted by their friends. Despite their conflicts, throughout the series, Ross and Phoebe rely on one another for advice and support. For example, Phoebe turned to Ross when she had problems with Mike and Ross turned to Phoebe when he wanted to stop Rachel going to Paris. Ross was also the one to obtain Phoebe a bike after hearing her complain of never having one as a child.

[edit] Marcel

In response to his loneliness after his divorce from Carol, Ross adopted a capuchin monkey named Marcel. The relationship was troublesome at first, but the two grew quite close, until Marcel's sexual drive (causing him to hump inanimate objects and people's legs) forced Ross to donate him to the San Diego Zoo. An underlying joke was how comparable their relationship was to that of a live-in couple. Ross later felt the urge to see Marcel again, but was told by the zoo that he had since died. However, a zoo keeper informed Ross that Marcel had actually been stolen. It turned out that Marcel was now a famous mascot for a brand of beer (Monkey Shine) and was starring in Outbreak 2: The Virus Takes Manhattan. (The monkey, Katie, who played Marcel, played the monkey in the real movie Outbreak). Marcel's favorite song was "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" which was how Ross got Marcel's attention when he was at the set of the Outbreak movie. Ross, later in the series, admits to how unusual his purchase was, saying in The One With Unagi, "Remember when I had a monkey... What was I thinking?"

[edit] Joey

[edit] Chandler

Ross and Chandler go quite a way back, being roommates in college. Ross and Chandler have remained close friends since then.

[edit] Monica

Monica is the younger sibling of Ross, and often feels overshadowed by him. Their parents have always seemed to favour Ross. Monica and Ross admit to having fought as children, but they appear to have reconciled as adults.

[edit] Personality

While generally good natured, he is often clumsy, sometimes selfish and socially awkward. He is the only member with a doctorate. And, as such, he can be quite arrogant. In most cases, however, his arrogance eventually backfires and/or gets the best of him. For example, in The One With Chandler's Dad, Ross repeatedly mocks Rachel for her fast driving. However, at the end of the episode, it's he who gets a ticket, but for driving too slowly. In later seasons, Ross is also shown to be quite irritable, often breaking into angry outbursts over the slightest things. For example, in The One With Ross's Sandwich, Ross is sentenced to a temporary work sabbatical after yelling at his boss for stealing his sandwich.

Somewhat surprisingly, in spite of his nerdy nature, Ross has dated a considerable number of attractive women throughout the series. Most of his dates, however, were disrupted and/or completely ruined once his paranoia or geekiness got the best of him. For example, in The One With All The Resolutions, Ross's date with Elizabeth Hornswoggle is disrupted when his legs become too hot/sweaty from his leather pants, at which he attempts to pull his tight pants off in her bathroom with little success.

[edit] Career

Ross later went to college where he met Chandler Bing, with whom he formed the band "Way No Way", and Carol Willick, who became his first wife. At college, Ross trained for a career in paleontology (on a dare), completing his Ph.D., and later became employed at the New York Museum of Prehistoric History. In the episode where Rachel moves out of Monica's apartment, Ross claims to have "given up a career in basketball" to become a paleontologist. He also claims that he would have been good at advertising. In "The One With The Mugging", Ross claims that he invented the phrase "Got Milk?". After Monica questions this claim, Ross turns to Joey and mentions that he "should have written it down". He also claims to have had the idea for Jurassic Park and Die Hard (coincidentally his, Chandler's and Joey's favorite movie) stolen from him. Ross's love of dinosaurs became a running joke throughout the series. In one episode when asked which he preferred, sex or dinosaurs; Ross had a tough time deciding which he would rather give up.

After the director of the museum ate half of Ross's favorite sandwich and threw the rest in the trash, Ross was forced to take a "sabbatical" from the museum due to his subsequent rage. His anger was amplified by the stress of his second divorce and after finding out Chandler was dating Monica his sister. He lost his apartment and had to move in with Chandler and Joey. Afterwards, Ross found a job as a professor at New York University and caused a stir among his colleagues when he dated one of his students, Elizabeth Stevens. Eventually, he was given tenure, despite it being clear that he is a mediocre teacher: forgetting classes, boring his students to sleep or giving away grades without even looking at students' work. Ross reveals that his students usually give him bad evaluations at the end of year, but passes this off as them being distraught over the fact he won't be teaching them again.

[edit] Apartment

In seasons 1-4, Ross lives in the same apartment. In season 5, Ross moves to the apartment owned by relative of his second wife Emily, who kicks him out when Ross and Emily divorce. He spent a short time living in Chandler and Joey's apartment before settling in the apartment directly opposite Monica's, which had once been inhabited by Ugly Naked Guy (which he managed to procure by pretending to share Ugly Naked Guy's common interest of "being naked", much to the dismay of the other friends who could see him across the street from Monica's apartment). This meant that all the Friends but Phoebe now lived in very close proximity.

[edit] Age and birthday

Although Ross's age is treated inconsistently by the show's writers, the best evidence is that he was born on October 18, 1967.

• Month and Day

Two episodes state Ross's birthday as October 18. In "The One Where Emma Cries" Ross names that date as his birthday, as well as in "The One With Five Steaks and an Eggplant" where he was taken to a Hootie & the Blowfish concert as his birthday present. However, in "The One with George Stephanopoulos", when Joey and Chandler buy Rangers tickets to celebrate Ross's birthday on the 20th of October, Ross says that his birthday was "seven months ago". In "The One With Joey's New Girlfriend", when Gunther asks Rachel when her birthday is, claiming to be making a list of people's birthdays, Ross says, 'Mine's December...' before being cut off by Gunther.

• Year of Birth

As to year of birth, in "The Pilot", which aired in September, 1994, Ross exclaims, "I'm only 26 and I'm divorced." That would mean that Ross was born in 1967 (assuming that in using "26" he was not projecting forward to his upcoming October birthday). A person born on October 18, 1967 then would be expected to graduate from college around 1990, and we later learn that Ross and Chandler were Class of 1991. The discrepancy is not that great, and could be explained by Ross having taken some time off between high school and college, perhaps when he tried to "make it as a dancer" as revealed by Monica in The Last One. Although in "The One with Ross' Library Book" Ross replies to an attractive woman, who read his book, that he skipped fourth grade after her comment, that he looks younger than she expected. But this could easily not be true meaning that he only said that to impress her. In "The One With The Videotape", while Ross is telling the "western Europe" story to try to get a girl into bed, Ross claims that he backpacked across Europe in 1983 then whispers to himself "I was thirteen?", implying he was born in 1970 or 1969.

Ross described himself as 29 in each of Seasons 3, 4 and 5. In Season 3, he told Chandler "No, thanks, I'm 29" when offered chocolate milk. In Season 4, when the guys tried to party without Gandalf, they all said they were 29. And in Season 5, when trying to reconcile with Emily, he said that if they didn't stay together he would be divorced for the second time before age 30. However, when a drunk man referred to Monica as Ross's mother at Ross's wedding rehearsal dinner in London, she expressed her distaste at having a "30 year old son".

Furthermore, in "The One Where Ross Dates A Student", Elizabeth is stated to be 20 years old and Ross says "Well I am 12 years older than she is", making him 32, despite this being only the sixth season.

[edit] Children

Ross has two children. The elder, Ben, is Ross and Carol's son. He was conceived before their divorce. Born in "The One With The Birth", Ben lives with Carol and her partner Susan Bunch. He was named after the name on a janitor's uniform worn by Phoebe as she attempted to escape from the janitor's closet that she, Susan, and Ross were trapped in while Carol was in labor. At first, Ben is a shy boy. However, an afternoon spent with Rachel transforms him into a mischievous prankster. He is played by Cole Sprouse.

His younger child is Emma. She was born to Ross and Rachel, conceived in a one-night stand. Emma lived with Ross and Rachel until one of their fights caused Rachel to take Emma and move back in with Joey. She remained there for the rest of the series until Ross and Rachel got back together in the series finale.

[edit] Production

Although the producers were coy about the Friends' religious backgrounds, it was revealed that Ross and Monica's father was Jewish and their mother was not. That said, Ross is seen attempting to get his son Ben to celebrate Hanukkah, by dressing up as a character he invented named the "Holiday Armadillo". On another occasion, Chandler alludes to Ross being Jewish when Ross goes to steal a bible from a hotel and Chandler says, "Besides it's a New Testament! What are you gonna do with it?." Ross simply shrugs and says he'll learn about Jesus. Finally, Ross once notes that he bought his sister Monica a Hanukkah present, when others were participating in a Secret Santa.

Ross appeared on the sitcom The Single Guy.