Ross Geller hence, Schwimmer was the first person to be cast on the show. Ross is a paleontologist and has a Ph.D. from Columbia University. His romantic feelings toward Rachel Green, which began as a high school infatuation, are an ongoing theme of his narrative arc. Likewise, their on-again, off-again romantic relationship is a nearly constant theme of "Friends". Born on October 18, 1967, and raised on Long Island, Ross is the elder brother of Monica Geller. Ross and Monica are Jewish and see themselves as at least cultural Jews, with Ross taking a more active role in wanting to teach his
Monica Geller to "The Hollywood Reporter", Hollywood professionals voted Monica the 47th best fictional female character. ChaCha collectively ranked Phoebe, Rachel and Monica the 11th, 12th and 13th best female television characters of all-time, respectively. Maria Tallarico of "Cosmopolitan" observed that a number of Monica's storylines, specifically one in which the character unintentionally has sex with a high school senior, "probably wouldn't fly on TV today". Writing for Mic.com, Samantha Allen believes that Monica helped "set the standard for how sitcoms could and would talk about sex" by both engaging in casual sex and dating a much older man. According to Dustin