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Courteney Bass Cox Arquette (born June 15, 1964) is an American actress and former model, known primarily for her role as Monica Geller in the popular television sitcom Friends. She currently plays Lucy Spiller, an executive editor of a tabloid magazine, on the popular drama Dirt on FX Networks. A whisper-thin, raven-haired beauty of TV and film, Courteney Cox first registered with audiences when she was plucked from the crowd by Bruce Springsteen in the Brian De Palma-directed video for The Boss' hit 1984 single "Dancing in the Dark". Work for the prestigious Ford Modeling Agency and appearances in Noxzema and Maybelline commercials (among others) and a bit part on the CBS soap "As the World Turns" preceded the video, after which she snagged a regular role in the short-lived primetime series "Misfits of Science" (NBC, 1985-86). Cox then joined the cast of the hit NBC sitcom "Family Ties" for the final two seasons (1987-89) as the brainy girlfriend of Alex P Keaton (Michael J Fox). She made the leap to the big screen, appearing in the little-seen caper film "Down Twisted" and the children's sci-fi epic "Masters of the Universe" (both 1987), and "Cocoon: The Return" (1988), none of which registered much with critics or audiences. Cox was born Courteney Bass Cox in Birmingham, Alabama to a wealthy Southern family. Her mother, also named Courteney (née Bass) and her late father, Richard Lewis Cox, was a contractor. Cox has two older sisters (Virginia McFerrin and Dottie Pickett), an older brother (Richard, Jr.) and nine half-brothers and half-sisters. Her parents divorced in 1974, and her father eventually wound up in Panama City, Florida, where he opened a company called Cox Pools, while Cox grew up with her mother and her stepfather, New York businessman Hunter Copeland. Cox was raised in a wealthy suburb of Birmingham, Mountain Brook, Alabama where she was known as CeCe. She attended Mountain Brook High School, where she was a cheerleader, tennis player and swimmer. Upon graduation, Cox went to study architecture and interior design at Mount Vernon College for Women. She dropped out after a year to pursue a modeling career, after being signed by the Ford modeling agency in New York City. While modeling, she also took acting classes and worked to lose her southern accent. Cox first came to prominence in the 1984 music video for Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" (in which she was the pulled-on-stage girl who danced onstage with Springsteen for 26 seconds). Cox is also notable for being the first person to use the word "period" on U.S. television in its physiological sense, in a 1985 advertising campaign for Tampax brand tampons. For the rest of the 80s and into the early 90s, Cox alternated between TV and feature films, often trading on her girl-next-door qualities. While she landed the female lead opposite Jim Carrey in the smash hit "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" (1994), she was overshadowed by the flashy antics of her co-star. Cox finally achieved small screen stardom as the neurotic aspiring chef Monica Geller, serving as the anchor of the ensemble, in the hit sitcom "Friends" (NBC, 1994-2004)--initially viewed as the star of the show, she easily settled into the emerging ensemble and, after a few seasons of playing Monica relatively straight, she showed her comedic chops as the character's quirks--such as her hyper-cleanliness--emerged. Her early film roles include Masters of the Universe (1987) and Cocoon: The Return (1988). Cox's early television work include a starring role in the short-lived television series Misfits of Science (1985), and later a recurring role (1987 - 1989) on the television series Family Ties as the last girlfriend of Alex P. Keaton (Michael J. Fox). She had a supporting role as Jewel, the hard-as-nails assistant to Jim Belushi's character in the 1990 fantasy film Mr. Destiny. In 1994, Cox appeared as Meryl, Jerry's girlfriend/pretend wife on the hit TV sitcom Seinfeld. After appearing in the Jim Carrey comedy Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994), Cox found fame playing Monica Geller on the hit TV series Friends (1994-2004). This was the role for which she would become most famous although she did audition for the part of Rachel Green. The six principal cast members, including Cox, became household names. She displayed her dramatic prowess as a blind rape victim in the made-for-cable movie "Sketch Artist II: Hands that See" (Showtime, 1995) before becoming the first of the "Friends" to score a big screen hit with Wes Craven's "Scream" (1996). Cast against type as savvy, ambitious TV newscaster Gale Weathers, Cox delivered a strong performance and she reprised the part in the inevitable sequels "Scream 2" (1997) and "Scream 3" (2000). Unfortunately, "Commandments" (both 1997), in which she portrayed the unhappy wife of Anthony LaPaglia, embarking on an affair with her brother-in-law (Aidan Quinn), failed to mine the versatility she displayed in the Craven movies. During her time on Friends, Cox appeared in the highly successful and high-profile Hollywood films Scream (1996), Scream 2 (1997), and Scream 3 (2000) as the ruthless reporter Gale Weathers. While filming the first of this trilogy, she met her husband David Arquette. Although she starred in several other films during her time on Friends, none achieved the same level of success as the show. Such films include The Runner, 3000 Miles to Graceland and The Shrink Is In. In late 2003, Cox produced the television series Mix It Up. The lifestyle show received low ratings and was not renewed for a second season. After a string of roles in unimpressive films--"3000 Miles to Graceland," "The Shrink Is In" and "Get Well Soon" (all 2001), Cox focused primarily on her series and her marriage to her "Scream" co-star David Arquette, whom she married in 1999 (the actress also added the Arquette name to her professional credits). As the final season of "Friends" wound down in 2004, Cox Arquette, had her share of options, motherhood was looming, she'd signed to appear in a slate of feature films, and she ahd her husband had already served as executive producers and design consultants on the home improvement reality series "Mix It Up" (2003-2004) on the cable network WE: Women's Entertainment, a series that focused on helping couples blend their disparate design senisbilities when they move in together. After her Friends role, Cox was producer Marc Cherry's first choice to be offered a starring role as Susan Mayer on Desperate Housewives. However, Cox was unavailable due to her pregnancy and the role went to Teri Hatcher. A couple of years later, Cox signed a deal with ABC Television Studio (formerly Touchstone Television), to star in her own series. Since Friends, Cox has primarily concentrated on her family but has starred in the independent film November (2005), which had a limited theatrical release, co-starred with Tim Allen in the critically derided Zoom and cameoed in the big budget remake of The Longest Yard, as the girlfriend of Adam Sandler. Cox later said her breasts were digitally enhanced to portray her role as the wife of a quarterback. She has recently supplied her voice for the animated film Barnyard. As of 2008, Cox plays Lucy Spiller, a tabloid editor, in Dirt, a television drama for the FX Networks. Cox and her husband, David Arquette, are the executive producers of the series. She will appear again with Adam Sandler in Bedtime Stories, which is set for a Christmas release. Cox's previous significant others include Ian Copeland and a long-term relationship with actor Michael Keaton. Cox also dated singer Adam Duritz of Counting Crows and appeared in their music video for song "A Long December" in 1997. (Duritz has also dated Cox's Friends co-star Jennifer Aniston.) Cox married David Arquette on June 12, 1999. On June 13, 2004, she gave birth to their first child, daughter Coco Riley Arquette. The child was originally to be named after her mother as Courteney Cox Arquette. However, Arquette's family objected to this on the grounds that naming a child after a living relative goes against Jewish tradition (David Arquette's mother is Jewish). Coco is a nickname Cox's friends gave her mother when she was a child. Jennifer Aniston is the baby's godmother. In June 2007, Cox announced plans to expand her family. The actress said she hopes to have a child through in vitro fertilisation despite battling post-partum depression after Coco's birth. |
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