Where Are the 'Friends' This Holiday Season?

Dec. 24, 2010 — -- How are the former "Friends" doing this holiday season?

For David Schwimmer, the lovably neurotic Ross Gellar, it's going to be a merry Christmas indeed. Schwimmer and his wife announced Thursday that they're expecting their first child.

"Actor/director David Schwimmer and his wife, photographer Zoe Buckman, are excited to be expecting their first child and couldn't be more thrilled," his representative said in a statement. "The couple were married in June 2010."

Cue the "aww." But for Jennifer Aniston, Schwimmer's "Friends" love interest, things aren't so sweet. After a bonding vacation in Mexico with comedian Chelsea Handler resulted in Handler's publicly slamming Angelina Jolie, Aniston is reportedly distancing herself from her new friend.

"Jen and Chelsea haven't officially fallen out but they certainly won't be going on vacation together for a long time unless Chelsea promises to never talk about Angelina again," a friend of Handler's was quoted as telling PopEater.com. "She understands that what Chelsea did was out of loyalty, but it didn't help. In fact, it made things worse."

"Friends" made its mark in sitcom history, dominating television for a decade. But since the hit NBC show ended six years ago, most of the "Friends" ensemble has faced an uphill battle reaching the same pinnacle of success.

The women of "Friends," including Aniston, Courteney Cox and Lisa Kudrow, have cultivated noteworthy careers since the show ended, while their male co-stars, Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Matthew Perry, appear to have had a harder time finding work and staying in the spotlight.

There has been speculation that the "Friends" cast will reunite on the big screen, but there is still no official deal. Until then, take a look at what they've been doing since the show wrapped.

Lisa Kudrow

The quirkiest member of the "Friends" cast has followed her hunches in the years since the show went off the air.

The latest gig for Kudrow, 47, is the online comedy series "Web Therapy," where she plays Dr. Fiona Wallice, a psychiatrist who listens to exasperated people's neuroses in the three-minute, improvisational therapy sessions.

The year after "Friends" ended, she followed up with "The Comeback," an HBO series in which she starred as a has-been sitcom star trying for a comeback. Kudrow, who was also a writer and producer of the series, earned an Emmy nomination for her role. The series was not picked up for a second season.

Her film work hasn't been very successfull. "Hotel for Dog" did well but "P.S. I Love You" tanked.

Jennifer Aniston

Post-"Friends," Aniston has had her share of box office hits, "Marley & Me" and "The Break-Up," and romantic comedy misses, "He's Just Not That into You" and "Rumor Has It." She has successfully made the leap from the small to the big screen and has frequently made Forbes' lists for her fame and earnings.

But for Aniston, it's her personal life that has seemed to eclipse her professional life. Aniston, now 41, has made headlines for posing provocatively on the covers of magazines. When she appeared nude on the cover of GQ in January 2009, she told the magazine she feels more comfortable with herself now than in her 20s or early 30s. "I'm healthier. I'm more at peace in my mind and with my body," she said.

She also seems to have made peace with her breakup with Brad Pitt. After their five-year storybook marriage ended, Pitt began seeing Angelina Jolie. While Pitt and Jolie may or may not be ensconced in domestic bliss, with their six children, Aniston has been linked with several different men, including "Bounty Hunter" co-star Gerard Butler, Vince Vaughn, John Mayer and model Paul Sculfor.

David Schwimmer

Schwimmer has spent much of the last six years out of the limelight, working with his small theater group, the Lookingglass, in Chicago and trying to launch a career as a movie director.

He has had limited success as a director. His 2007 film "Run, Fat Boy, Run," a British romantic comedy, bombed at the box office, but USA Today said Schwimmer possessed filmmaking finesse, "having wisely chosen strong comic material for his debut behind the camera." He also reportedly met his soon-to-be wife during the making of the film. His upcoming film is "Trust," the story of a young girl who gets attacked by an online predator.

In front of the camera, Schwimmer, 44, hasn't seen much action besides guest-starring roles on "30 Rock" and "Entourage," in which he played himself. Ironically, in the "Entourage" episode, agent Ari Gold tries to steer his career back to television.

But, according to the Daily Mail, Schwimmer has had to return to auditioning for parts, and has been turned down for top roles.

Matthew Perry

Perry, 41, has been unable to find his groove since playing Chandler on the hit sitcom.

His attempts to repeat his "Friends" success on the small screen have fallen flat. His 2006 series "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" was dropped by NBC after the first season because of poor ratings. Last year, he tried again to return to television as a radio talk show host in "The End of Steve," but the dark comedy was scrapped after just one episode.

Perry has had equally bad luck on the big screen. In his first film role after "Friends," Perry played a chronically depressed man in the 2007 movie "Numb." The film flopped at the box office. His most recent role in "17 Again" was better received, but he played second banana to star Zac Efron.

In the past, Perry has admitted to struggles with depression and alcohol and prescription drug addiction. Production on 2002's "Serving Sara" had to be shut down for three months while Perry checked into rehab.

"Your consciousness has to change and, I was very lucky and smart enough to realize that at that moment, it was life and death time, and movies, acting, dating, sports and everything just have to take a sideline to this," he told Film Monthly at the time.

Courteney Cox

Cox, 46, turned her focus to family following the end of "Friends."

After trying for so long to conceive, she was finally pregnant with daughter Coco when "Desperate Housewives" creator Marc Cherry wanted to cast her as Susan. The role went instead to Teri Hatcher.

A few years later, in 2007, she launched her comeback playing a tabloid editor in the FX sitcom "Dirt," which she and husband David Arquette produced. The show was canceled after the second season because of poor ratings. A long guest appearance on the NBC series "Scrubs" led to Cox's current role as a 40-something divorced real estate agent re-entering the dating scene in ABC's "Cougar Town."

"I think Courteney Cox is great at playing the comedy of discomfort," executive producer Bill Lawrence told ABCNews.com.

Lawrence, who also produced "Scrubs," approached Cox with the sitcom after he heard through the grapevine that she was looking to do comedy again. "She's a fearless comedian."

Cox has been forced to be fearless in her personal life following her recent split with Arquette and a wave of speculation around what exactly broke them up.

Matt LeBlanc

After his ill-fated "Friends" spin-off "Joey" was cancelled after one season in 2006, LeBlanc, now 43, had few callers.

Four years later, he has finally landed a role on "Episodes," a new Showtime comedy series created by one of the producers of "Friends."

In the new series that spoofs the TV business, LeBlanc will play a version of himself.

"I am so glad I got the part," LeBlanc told The Hollywood Reporter. "Seeing someone else play Matt LeBlanc would have been devastating."

Even so, it hasn't been easy being LeBlanc lately. His marriage to British model Melissa McKnight failed around the time "Joey" did. According to People magazine, the couple was dealing with daughter Marina's suffering seizures shortly after birth until she was two. Then, as the couple's third anniversary approached, LeBlanc suddenly moved out and began seeing his "Joey" co-star Andrea Anders. LeBlanc also made tabloid headlines after he admitted to groping a stripper at a Canadian nightclub.