The One Where Tiffani Thiessen Was Almost Rachel on Friends

From Kelly Kapowski to Rachel Green?! It almost happened.

By Chris Harnick Oct 02, 2018 1:14 PMTags
Tiffani Thiessen, Jennifer AnistonAxelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic, Warner Bros. Television

When Friends started taking shape in 1994 a bevy of famous and nearly-famous faces were seen and thought of for the iconic roles of Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Joey, Chandler and Ross. Another mainstay of the 1990s recently added her name to the list of famous auditioners: Tiffani Thiessen.

"Did you know I tested for Friends, for Jennifer Aniston?" Thiessen said on Nikki Glaser's SiriusXM show. "I was just a little too young. I was a little too young to the pairing of the rest of them."

Thiessen went on to praise Aniston, calling her, "very, very funny."

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Amazing TV Roles That Almost Went to Other Actors

Other famous faces who auditioned for Friends include Jane Krakowski, Nancy McKeon and Lisa Whelchel.

Thiessen is now mixing it up on sitcoms once again on Netflix's Alexa & Katie. The sitcom, which is kept targeted to tweens, follows the relationship between a high schooler who battled cancer, Alexa, and her best friend, Katie. Thiessen plays Lori, the mom to Paris Berlec's Alexa. Isabel May is Katie. The cast also includes Eddie Shin, Emery Kelly, Finn Carr and Jolie Jenkins. It will return to Netflix for a second season.

See more famous roles that could've been very different had the audition process taken another turn in our gallery.