Mitchell Whitfield’s character, Dr. Barry Farber, DDS, aka the Evil Orthodontist, first turned up in the 2nd episode of “Friends.” He later appeared in five more episodes from 1995 to 2000, where viewers found out that he cheated on Rachel with her maid of honor, Mindy, and even her sister Amy back in the day, thus making him the show’s original womanizer. (Sorry, Joey!) In an interview with Today, Whitfield maintained that his character was not a jerk but was instead “misunderstood.”
And while he may not have played a main character, in 2019 Whitfield took credit where due in an interview with The Guardian. “It sounds a little egomaniacal to say that I’m the reason the show exists. But when you look at the pilot, with Rachel dumping me at the altar and coming in to meet everybody, that moment was the impetus for the show,” Whitfield told the outlet.
Whitfield, who dished that he originally auditioned for the Ross character that went to Schwimmer, also revealed that by the end of the NBC sitcom’s 1st season in 1995 — a season in which he appeared in just three episodes — he was already being recognized by fans, and he knew that meant something big was brewing. He explained, “I started getting people saying, ‘Oh, you’re that jerk on “Friends.”‘ That’s when I thought, ‘This thing is definitely starting to take off.'”
