Tiffani Thiessen Almost Played Rachel on “Friends”

Tiffani Thiessen. Photo by Chelsea Lauren/REX/Shutterstock (9876988l)

It is hard to imagine someone else playing the iconic roles of Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Joey, Chandler, and Ross on NBC’s sitcom Friends than Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer. But that was almost the case since the Saved by the Bell star Tiffani Thiessen recently revealed that she was close to getting the role of Rachel Green on the sitcom.

During her appearance at the You Up With Nikki Glaser, Thiessen said that she tested for the role but ended up not getting it because she was too young.

“Did you know I tested for Friends, for Jennifer Aniston?” said the 44-year-old. “I was just a little too young. I was a little too young to the pairing of the rest of them.”

At the time when the first episode of Friends aired in September 1994, Tiffani Thiessen was 20 years old while Jennifer Aniston was 25. While we don’t know whether the age was the only factor, Thiessen certainly had a big advantage, becoming a household name thanks to her role in Saved by the Bell. Aniston, on the other side, was still an up-and-coming actress who was yet to receive her big breakthrough. That ended up happening with Friends, making her one of biggest TV stars at the time.

After failing to get the role of Rachel, Thiessen went on to portray Valerie Malone on Fox’s popular teen drama Beverly Hills, 90210. Most recently she starred in USA Networks’ legal drama White Collar and had hosted her cooking show on Cooking Chanel titled Dinner at Tiffani’s.