10 Must See Photos of Courteney Cox Young

Best known for playing competitive clean freak Monica Geller on Friends, Courteney Cox is nothing short of a Hollywood icon. She has over 70 TV and movie credits to her name, a Golden Globe nomination, four People's Choice award nominations and one Primetime Emmy nomination, the latter in the category of Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded) for her work in the 2021 TV special, Friends: The Reunion.

But stardom wasn't always an easy road for Cox, and we have ventured back in time to see young Courtney Cox when she was just starting out.

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Courteney Cox Young

Born on June 15th, 1964 in Birmingham, Alabama, Cox knew she wanted to be an actress early on in life. She even dropped out of George Washington University in Washington, D.C. to pursue acting and modeling full-time. But before that could happen, she worked at Bethesda Softworks, a video game publisher in Los Angeles, during the 1980s.

From there, she went on to star in Bruce Springsteen's 1984 music video for "Dancing in the Dark" and had small parts on shows like The Love Boat (1986) and Murder, She Wrote (1986), before scoring a starring role in Misfits of Science (1985).

Perhaps her most famous character in the 1980s was Cox's work as Lauren Miller, Alex P. Keaton's (Michael J. Fox) girlfriend on Family Ties. She appeared in 19 episodes total and left the show in 1989.

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"I was so nervous. It's so hard to go into a hit show," Cox told Variety in 2023. "I wasn't a guest star, I was a recurring character, but every time I went it felt like I was starting from scratch!

Being on a show and watching Michael J. Fox was the greatest lesson in acting and comedy that I've ever seen. He was able to take one line, break it up into three different parts, and get three huge laughs. He's just a master. It was a great experience — it was nerve-wracking!"

The Friends Era

After Family Ties, Cox could be found in things like  Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Trouble With Larry and a 1994 Seinfeld episode. But thats not all that happened to her that year, because her breakout role as Monica Geller in Friends hit the small screen at that very same time.

Friends — costarring Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer — ran for 10 seasons from 1994-2004, had 234 episodes and 55 Primetime Emmy nominations. Cox herself appeared in every single episode and even had one dedicated to her for her marriage to David Arquette in 2001.

"Friends taught me the importance of camaraderie and really sticking together. These friendships were at the most important time in my life, and we went through so many things together," Cox recalled in 2023.

"It just taught me about being there for each other — I know that's the song: 'I'll be there for you.' But it's true. It was so nice to work with people that could bounce ideas off each other. Everybody wanted the best for everybody. There was no jealousy, it was only, 'Let's make the best show we can, and let's support each other in this.'"

Courteney Cox young in Scream 

During her time in Friends, Cox was also filming the hit blockbuster movie Scream. The first one reached theaters in 1996, the second in 1997. Scream 3 came out in 2000, with the fourth one 11 years after that.

Her most recent Scream film (Scream VI) was released in 2023 and starred Jenna Ortega, Melissa Barrera, Skeet Ulrich and more.

Life after Friends

After filming wrapped for Friends in 2004, and Cox was between Scream movies, she bounced around some shows and could be seen in TV series like Go On, Dirt, Scrubs and more.

Her next starring role came in 2009 when she booked the show Cougar Town. It ran for six seasons with 102 episodes produced. Cox earned a Golden Globe nomination for her work in the show.

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What Courteney Cox is up to now

After Cougar Town wrapped in 2015, Cox took a step back from acting and only starred in a few things until Scream VI in 2023. She also had a 16-episode stint on the comedy horror series Shining Vale from 2022 - 2023. Cox is very active on social media and owns her own home care brand called Homecourt.

Courteney's personal life

Over the course of her career, Cox has been in a few notable relationships. The first was with Michel Keaton from 1989 to 1995, after which she started dating David Arquette. The pair got married in 1999, welcomed one daughter (Coco Arquette) in 2004 and divorced in 2013. Now, she is dating singer and songwriter Johnny McDaid. The pair has been together since 2013.

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