Actress Jennifer Gray played Mindy in the first season of Friends, but another actress took on the role the following season. She explains the reason in an interview with MediaVillage.
Jennifer Gray was one of the brightest stars of the 80s and 90s. She was a big hit in Dirty Dancing in 1987 and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off the year before.
In 1995, she starred in Friends – in the first season, episode 20 – as Mindy, the former best friend of Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston). When it came time to play Mindy again in the second season, Jennifer turned down the offer, and actress Jana Marie Hupp took over the role.
Gray says she was a big Friends fan, but her on-set experience made her refuse to come back.
“When I was on the show, I was so nervous because they were always changing the script. It’s very difficult to be in a guest role because you’re not part of the group and you try to figure it all out,” she told MediaVillage.
Gray did not play Mindy again in the second season.
“It kept changing and made me so nervous I could barely do it.”
The actress says performance anxiety led her to turn down an offer to play Mindy in the second season and host Saturday Night Live at the same time. She admits it pains her to know that she turned down those offers because of her anxiety, but at the time she didn’t get the help she needed.
Today she is in a much better position and has learned to manage anxiety.
Read News about Celebrity, and Gossip on The Eastern Herald.
