A lot of Courteney Cox‘s lead roles are long standing. Whether these roles were part of TV series or franchise movies, much of the actress’s history involves playing a part for several years. Cox is perhaps best known as Monica Geller from the hit sitcom, friendswith her role as Gale Weathers from the scream franchise comes in a close second. During her tenure as Gale, Cox appeared in every scream movie.
In addition to her two most famous roles, she has also appeared in another sitcom Cougar City, where she played a wine-loving Jules Cobb. Another notable role for Cox was her stint as a tabloid editor on the FX drama Soil. Her most recent role comes from the Starz horror comedy Shining Vale, which was just renewed for a second season last May. Regardless of the name of the character you know Cox with, you know her performance will be just as fierce as she is. Here are five of Cox’s best performances, ranked.
5/5 Shining Vale
Shining Vale is a horror comedy series that has just been renewed for its second season. On the Starz show, Cox stars as Patricia Phelps, a former wild child who became famous for writing raunchy novels about female empowerment. Her family moves from a city to a small town after Pat cheats on her husband. The new house they move into has a terrible past. Pat is the only one who can sense the history of the house when she claims she is depressed or possessed. She is unfulfilled in her life and looking for more from her life. Like most haunted houses, the demons that haunt the house start to get more real.
4/5 Soil
Soil was an FX TV series that ran for two seasons in 2007. The show was produced by Cox and her then-husband David Arquette. The series revolves around Lucy Spiller (Cox) and Don Konkey (Ian Hall). Lucy is the editor-in-chief of Dirt and Now Magazines, with Don as a freelance photographer. Most episodes focus on Lucy’s endless search for newsworthy celebrity stories for her magazine. Lucy is a workaholic who is dedicated to her job, her best friend and her brother.
3/5 Cougar City
Cougar City is similar to Friends in that it was a comedy series centered around a group of friends. The coffee has turned to wine, New York to Florida and new “friends”. The show ran from 2009-2015, where it started with ABC, before the picked up by TBS in 2013. Cox plays Jules Cobb, a recently divorced single mother who is now faced with the world of dating. She is called a “cougar” by dating younger men, hence where the show’s name comes from. Her signature thing is to drink a generous glass of wine from glasses with cute names.
2/5 Scream franchise
Unfortunately, not all of Cox’s roles painted the actress in the best light. In the slasher franchise, screamCox’s character is less than likable. She plays a murderous journalist who will stop at nothing to get the story. At least that’s who she is in the first movie, but like most semi-antagonistic characters, they can have a personality change. Towards the end of the franchise, she teams up with Sidney (Neve Campbell) and Dewey (David Arquette), whom she later marries, both in real life and in the franchise. Cox has played Gale since 1996 and will play her role in the sixth episode, which is per IndieWirewill fall in 2023.
1/5 friends
friends is easily Cox’s most notable achievement. Monica Gellar has been a fan favorite name since the show first debuted in 1994. Monica was arguably the most stable of the six-piece group. As a chef living in New York, she often had to help her friends with their struggles. She also had one of the best romantic storylines. Whether you were Team Richard or Team Chandler, Monica’s relationships were very important to the show. As a neurotic, clean freak, Monica’s character was also very recognizable, as she was stressing one minute and having a beer with her best friends while in wedding dresses the next.