Courteney Cox
- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Courteney Cox was born on June 15th, 1964 in Birmingham, Alabama, into
an affluent Southern family. She is the daughter of Courteney (Bass)
and Richard Lewis Cox (1930-2001), a businessman. She was the baby of
the family with two older sisters (Virginia and Dottie) and an older
brother, Richard, Jr. She was raised in an exclusive society town,
Mountain Brook, Alabama. Courteney was the archetypal daddy's girl, and
therefore was understandably devastated when, in 1974, her parents
divorced, and her father moved to Florida.
She became a rebellious teen, and did not make things easy for her
mother, and new stepfather, New York businessman Hunter Copeland. Now,
she is great friends with both. She attended Mountain Brook High
School, where she was a cheerleader, tennis player and swimmer. In her
final year, she received her first taste of modeling. She appeared in
an advert for the store, Parisians. Upon graduation, she left Alabama
to study architecture and interior design at Mount Vernon College.
After one year she dropped out to a pursue a modeling career in New
York, after being signed by the prestigious Ford Modelling Agency. She
appeared on the covers of teen magazines such as Tiger Beat and Little
Miss, plus numerous romance novels. She then moved on to commercials
for Maybeline, Noxema, New York Telephone Company and Tampax.
While modeling, she attended acting classes, as her real dream and
ambition was to be an actress. In 1984, she landed herself a small part
in one episode of
As the World Turns (1956)
as a young débutante named Bunny. Her first big break, however, was
being cast by Brian De Palma in the
Bruce Springsteen video "Dancing in
The Dark". In 1985, she moved to LA to star alongside
Dean Paul Martin in
Misfits of Science (1985).
It was a flop, but a few years later, she was chosen out of thousands
of hopefuls to play
Michael J. Fox's girlfriend,
psychology major Lauren Miller in
Family Ties (1982).
In 1989, Family Ties (1982)
ended, and Cox went through a lean spell in her career, featuring in
unmemorable movies such as
Mr. Destiny (1990) with
Michael Caine. Fortunes changed
dramatically for Cox, when in 1994, she starred alongside
Jim Carrey in the unexpected hit
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994),
and a year later she was cast as Monica Geller on the hugely successful
sitcom Friends (1994). It was this
part that turned her into an international superstar and led to an
American Comedy Award nomination. In 1996 Cox starred in
Wes Craven's horror/comedy
Scream (1996) . This movie grossed over
$100 million at the box office, and won Cox rave reviews for her
standout performance as the wickedly bitchy and smug TV reporter Gale
Weathers. She went on to play this character again in each of the three
sequels. Not only did her involvement in this movie lead to critical
acclaim, but it also led to her meeting actor husband
David Arquette. He played her
on-screen love interest Dewey, and life imitated art as the two fell in
love for real. Their wedding took place in San Francisco, at the
historic Grace Cathedral atop Nob Hill, on June 12th, 1999. Joined by
200 guests, including Cox's film star friends
Liam Neeson and
Kevin Spacey, the happy couple finally
became Mr. and Mrs. Arquette.
an affluent Southern family. She is the daughter of Courteney (Bass)
and Richard Lewis Cox (1930-2001), a businessman. She was the baby of
the family with two older sisters (Virginia and Dottie) and an older
brother, Richard, Jr. She was raised in an exclusive society town,
Mountain Brook, Alabama. Courteney was the archetypal daddy's girl, and
therefore was understandably devastated when, in 1974, her parents
divorced, and her father moved to Florida.
She became a rebellious teen, and did not make things easy for her
mother, and new stepfather, New York businessman Hunter Copeland. Now,
she is great friends with both. She attended Mountain Brook High
School, where she was a cheerleader, tennis player and swimmer. In her
final year, she received her first taste of modeling. She appeared in
an advert for the store, Parisians. Upon graduation, she left Alabama
to study architecture and interior design at Mount Vernon College.
After one year she dropped out to a pursue a modeling career in New
York, after being signed by the prestigious Ford Modelling Agency. She
appeared on the covers of teen magazines such as Tiger Beat and Little
Miss, plus numerous romance novels. She then moved on to commercials
for Maybeline, Noxema, New York Telephone Company and Tampax.
While modeling, she attended acting classes, as her real dream and
ambition was to be an actress. In 1984, she landed herself a small part
in one episode of
As the World Turns (1956)
as a young débutante named Bunny. Her first big break, however, was
being cast by Brian De Palma in the
Bruce Springsteen video "Dancing in
The Dark". In 1985, she moved to LA to star alongside
Dean Paul Martin in
Misfits of Science (1985).
It was a flop, but a few years later, she was chosen out of thousands
of hopefuls to play
Michael J. Fox's girlfriend,
psychology major Lauren Miller in
Family Ties (1982).
In 1989, Family Ties (1982)
ended, and Cox went through a lean spell in her career, featuring in
unmemorable movies such as
Mr. Destiny (1990) with
Michael Caine. Fortunes changed
dramatically for Cox, when in 1994, she starred alongside
Jim Carrey in the unexpected hit
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994),
and a year later she was cast as Monica Geller on the hugely successful
sitcom Friends (1994). It was this
part that turned her into an international superstar and led to an
American Comedy Award nomination. In 1996 Cox starred in
Wes Craven's horror/comedy
Scream (1996) . This movie grossed over
$100 million at the box office, and won Cox rave reviews for her
standout performance as the wickedly bitchy and smug TV reporter Gale
Weathers. She went on to play this character again in each of the three
sequels. Not only did her involvement in this movie lead to critical
acclaim, but it also led to her meeting actor husband
David Arquette. He played her
on-screen love interest Dewey, and life imitated art as the two fell in
love for real. Their wedding took place in San Francisco, at the
historic Grace Cathedral atop Nob Hill, on June 12th, 1999. Joined by
200 guests, including Cox's film star friends
Liam Neeson and
Kevin Spacey, the happy couple finally
became Mr. and Mrs. Arquette.
Funny Women of Television
Funny Women of Television
We salute the brilliant women behind all those unforgettable laughs on the small screen.