I’ve never been an actor, so I can only imagine how strange it would be to pop on the television to look for something good on the 2024 TV schedule and all of a sudden see your face on it. That’s especially true if it’s been a couple of decades since said acting job and you find yourself staring at a younger version of yourself. Tate Donovan apparently knows exactly what that’s like, as he happened upon one of the Friends episodes that he guest-starred on. He had a pretty funny take on seeing himself on one of the best sitcoms of all time, and I cannot disagree with him.
Tate Donovan played Rachel’s crush Joshua on five episodes of Season 4, and with Friends being one of television’s most rewatchable series, it’s certainly not rare to come across the reruns. It’s a little more random, though, that of the more than 230 episodes that aired on NBC from 1994 to 2004, the actor was faced with one of the handful of Joshua’s episodes. Donovan had a great reaction to the blast from the past, telling People:
I don't really watch Friends, but recently, I was in a hotel room and it came on and, oh my God, there was Joshua. I was like, ‘Wow, I was really handsome at one point in my life.’ I really was.
Hold on, did he not already know he was attractive?
I may have never been on TV in any meaningful way, but it’s actually pretty relatable to have some kind of emotional response to, perhaps, seeing yourself in old photos. Tate Donovan apparently understood what got Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) all worked up way back then when she became hilariously infatuated with her client at Bloomingdale’s.
He’s not wrong, either. Joshua was a great-looking guy, especially paired with that name — never “Josh,” always “Josh-UA,” as Rachel said. That’s not to say Tate Donovan doesn’t look great now (he’s shown below during a 2019 interview) but I’m willing to bet we’ve all changed quite a bit since 1998.
Tate Donovan isn’t the only one of Rachel’s love interests making headlines all these years later. Friends fans were flabbergasted when they saw recent photos of Cosimo Fusco — aka Paolo — saying that the Italian actor has “aged like a fine wine.”
When it comes to Tate Donovan’s guest spot on Friends, however, the emotions are a bit more complicated than just the realization of how much time has passed. As the sitcom celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, Donovan candidly recalled the real-life breakup with Jennifer Aniston he was going through at the time. The actors had dated for two years but had quietly parted ways when he accepted the role as Joshua.
He said Matthew Perry helped him through what was not an easy time, and it was a long time before he was able to rewatch those episodes of Friends. I guess that made it all the more jarring when that episode came on in the hotel room!
If you want to relive the days of Joshua or any of the other most ridiculous episodes of Friends, all 10 seasons are available to stream with a Max subscription.