Friends’ David Schwimmer aka Ross had this “inappropriate” role before his breakout

David Schwimmer, who we all know and love as Ross Geller from Friends, talked about a part of his acting past that he had kind of forgotten. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, he brought up a time when he was on Blossom, a show from the 90s, and played a character that made him feel uncomfortable looking back.

In one episode of Blossom, he was supposed to be the love interest for Six, a character played by Jenna Von Oÿ. Now, David was about 26 or 27 at the time, and Jenna was just 16. He played a guy who was not only married but was also 10 years older than her character.

This plot twist made the actor question,

“Why did they cast me?! That is so inappropriate!”

The whole thing made David Schwimmer think twice, even back when he was just starting out in the business. And when they talked about it now, you could tell it was still something he wasn't crazy about.

As David Schwimmer himself shared,

“I was just a young actor grateful for any kind of work… waiting tables before and after I shot that.”

Here, we look into this moment in David Schwimmer's career and its context.

What made David Schwimmer’s role in Blossom so controversial?

Back in 1993, when Schwimmer played a married guy who had a thing for a teenager on Blossom, it had people talking about who gets picked for what parts in TV shows and if the stories go too far.

The idea was to tackle some heavy issues, but because Schwimmer was an adult and his co-star was still a minor, it made many viewers feel weird.

Looking back on it, David Schwimmer says,

“Aren’t I way too old to go out with [her]?”

This situation got people thinking about whether casting choices like that are okay.

It shows that when you're just starting out as an actor, you might take on roles that seem like a good idea at the time, but you don't always realize what they might mean to people.

David Schwimmer’s transition to Friends

Only a year after popping up on Blossom, Schwimmer's career took a huge leap forward with the start of Friends back in '94. Playing Ross Geller put him on the map and turned him into a big-deal celebrity. He talked about what it was like dealing with all that fame so quickly, saying it had its ups and downs:

“It was, at times, pretty scary… but we leaned on each other [the cast] a great deal for those first couple of years.”

But even though he had some tough gigs initially, his love for acting showed.

Because of that, he was nominated for three Emmy awards. People couldn't get enough of Ross because he was funny and had a heart of gold. That's what made him such a classic TV character.

David Schwimmer’s thoughts on longevity and legacy in entertainment

More than thirty years have passed, and David Schwimmer is still a much-loved personality in the world of entertainment. Besides his iconic role in Friends, he's also known for lending his voice to Melman in the Madagascar movies and a more recent part in Goosebumps: The Vanishing.

Schwimmer often talks about how much his first hit show means to fans: