Courteney Cox was born on June 15th, 1964 into an affluent Southern family. Her father Richard L Cox (1930-2001) was a business man married to her mother Courteney. She was the baby of the family with two older sisters (Virginia and Dottie) and an older brother Richard Jnr. 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 step-father, 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 as a young débutante named Bunny. Her first big break, however, was being cast by Brian De Palma in the infamous Bruce Springsteen video "Dancing in The Dark". In 1985, she moved to LA to star alongside Dean Paul Martin in Misfits of Science. 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.

In 1989, Family Ties ended, and Cox went through a lean spell in her career, featuring in unmemorable movies such as Mr. Destiny with Michael Caine. Fortunes changed dramatically for Cox, when in 1994, she starred alongside Jim Carrey in the unexpected hit Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, and a year later she was cast as Monica Geller on the hugely successful sitcom Friends. 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 . 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 twice more, as Scream became The Scream Trilogy. 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.



November (2004): $150,000
3000 Miles to Graceland (2001): $7,500,000
Scream 3 (2000): $7,000,000
Scream 2 (1997): $5,000,000
Commandments (1997): $1,000,000
Scream (1996/I) (1997): $1,000,000
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994): $200,000
Masters of the Universe (1987): $50,000

Underwent laser eye surgery to correct her vision from 20/400. [1999] Had a six-year relationship with actor Michael Keaton. [1989-1995] Named one of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People of 1995 and appeared on the cover. Studied architecture at Mount Vernon College for a year. In 1984 she worked at F.B.I. (Frontier Booking International) a concert booking agency in New York run by Ian Copeland (brother of Stewart Copeland of the Police) and a relative of hers. Announced in September, 1999 that her new legal and professional surname would be Courteney Cox Arquette. As a result the cast and producers of her "Friends" (1994) TV show also added "Arquette" to their own names in the opening credits of the 1999 season's premiere episode. Following the death of her father Richard Cox in 2001 she returned to her maiden name professionally. Has three dogs: Ella, Rags and Mr. McBarker (Mac for short). The latter is, rather unfortunately, a female. Big fan of the Foo Fighters. She can play the piano and drums. Was named the "Hottest Babe" by Playboy magazine (1995). Drives a Jaguar and a silver Porsche Carrera. She likes to buy houses, renovate them, and then sell them off for profit. [This is also know as "flipping" houses, and is the subject of a number of home-improvement television shows.]. On "Friends" (1994), she plays a character whose last name is Geller, and her husband played Robert Geller in Never Been Kissed (1999). Went into labor on her 5 year wedding anniversary, June 12, 2004, and gave birth to her daughter the next day, two days before her 40th birthday. Ranked #18 in Stuff magazine's "102 Sexiest Women in the World" (2002). Her daughter's name Coco came from a compromise between her and husband David Arquette. Because of her Southern roots she wanted to name her daughter Courteney Cox, as her mom is Courteney Cox and so is she. However, David is half Jewish and it is against Jewish tradition to name a child after a living person. So the name came from the nickname Courteney's friends had for her mother while Courtney was growing up. They called her Mama Coco. In March 2005, it was announced that she would become the first spokesperson for Kinerase Skin Care Products. Ranked #41 on Forbes Celebrity 100 list in 2003. Hosted the MTV Movie Awards in 1995 along with Jon Lovitz. Member of the Delta Zeta Sorority. She was the inspiration to the running gag of the "Carlton Dance" on "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" (1990). "The Carlton Dance" was a parody of her dance during the Bruce Springsteen music video "Dancing in the Dark." Her hosting of the 1995 airing of "SNL" began with a re-enactment of her "Dancing in the Dark" video appearance, with Adam Sandler copying Bruce Springsteen. Good friends with Ellen DeGeneres. Best known by the public for her starring role as Monica Geller-Bing on "Friends" (1994). After the birth of her first child, started to train in Karate. As of 2009, she holds a brown belt. Lives in Beverly Hills and Malibu, California. Sister in-law of actor Thomas Jane, who married Patricia Arquette.