Born in Birmingham, Alabama on 15 June 1964, Courteney is known as CC to her family and friends.
She was the first person to say "period" on American TV, in a commercial for Tampax.
In the movie Masters Of The Universe, Courteney worked with Christina Pickles, who plays Monica's mum in Friends.
After landing the role of Monica (she originally auditioned as Rachel) she went out and bought a brand new Porsche.
Her career began with Bruce Springsteen's Dancing in the Dark video, directed by Brian De Palma, who selected her to be the girl that "The Boss" pulls from the audience to dance with him.
Courteney dated Michael Keaton for five years, and they are reportedly still "good friends".
Her favourite song is Sex and Candy by Marcy Playground.
She was the cover girl on People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People In The World" issue. "It felt great, but it increased the pressure and for a couple of weeks I felt I had to make an effort to look decent all the time." She was also dubbed "TV's Hottest Babe" by Playboy magazine.
Courteney can be paranoid about her looks. Her ideal weight is 45 kilos, and she is terrified of being fat. "My whole family is shaped like pears and I'm afraid of looking like that" . She has been known to bleach her teeth.
After Commandments, Courteney's next big film role will be as tragic 1920's starlet Barbara Lamarr in The Girl Who Was Too Beautiful. Lamarr was a silent movie star who had six husbands in as many years, became a heroin addict, and died of an overdose aged 26.
She plays bitchy reporter Gale Weathers in Wes Craven's horror flick Scream.
Courteney's childhood friends were reportedly shocked at the lesbian storyline in the show.
She was the best known member of the cast before the show, having starred in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective with Jim Carrey. Because of this, she got paid more for each episode, until David Schwimmer objected.
Courteney on Monica: "She's obsessive, the one who has to be perfect and please everybody. I'm so similar to her it's frightening."