Courteney Bass Cox (born June 15, 1964), also known as Courteney Cox Arquette, is an American actress, best known for her role as Monica Geller on the sitcom, Friends. Courteney has also starred in Dirt and the Scream series, and has guest-starred in Scrubs. She is currently starring in Cougar Town.

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Cox is the daughter of businessman Richard Lewis Cox and his wife Courteney (née Bass, later Copeland). She has two older sisters, Virginia and Dottie and an older brother, Richard Jr. Her parents divorced in 1974 and her mother was remarried to businessman Hunter Copeland (uncle to Ian Copeland). After graduating from Mountain Brook High School, Alabama, Cox left for Mount Vernon College in Washington DC but did not complete her architecture course, opting instead to pursue a career in modelling and acting.

Cox studied architecture at Mount Vernon College for Women in Washington, DC, which is now part of George Washington University, before she dropped out. She first came to prominence in the 1984 music video for Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" (in which she was the girl pulled onstage to dance with Springsteen). Cox is also notable for being the first person to use the word "period" on U.S. television in its physiological sense, in a 1985 advertising campaign for Tampax brand tampons. Her early film roles include Masters of the Universe (1987) and Cocoon: The Return (1988). Her early television work includes a starring role in the short-lived television series Misfits of Science (1985), and later a recurring role (1987-89) on the TV series Family Ties as Lauren Miller, the girlfriend of Alex P. Keaton (Michael J. Fox). She had a supporting role as Jewel, the hard-as-nails assistant to James Belushi's character, in the 1990 fantasy film Mr. Destiny. In 1994, shortly before the debut of sitcom, Friends, Cox appeared with Jim Carrey in the film Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and on Seinfeld in The Wife episode as Jerry's girlfriend named Meryl.