Leah Remini has had some really big roles in the course of her career. She first appeared on the scene in 1998 with a very minor role in the ABC sitcom, Head of the Class. She later landed recurring parts on other shows like Living Dolls, Saved by the Bell and Phantom 2040.
Her big breakout role came in the late '90s, when she joined the cast of the CBS sitcom The King of Queens. In total, she featured in 207 episodes of the series, in the character Carrie Heffernan, opposite Kevin James' Doug Heffernan.
In her book, Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology, Remini speaks about how she was pressured by members of the sect to try and recruit James. She said that she managed to fend off this pressure, by telling them, "He's Catholic. He doesn't want anything to do with it."
Carrie is a character that Remini has come to be very synonymous with over the years. In the same book, however, she reveals how she lost out on the $90 million role of Monica Geller on Friends to Courteney Cox.
Leah Remini Immediately Knew That Courteney Cox Would Land The Role
Years before she became Carrie on The King of Queens, Remini had auditioned to play Monica on the NBC classic sitcom, Friends. According to her, she in fact made it to the final round of auditions, and the decision had come down to just herself and one other actor.
Unfortunately for them, as they were on their way out of the room, Courteney Cox walked in - to audition for the very same part. In her book, Remini recalls how she instantly knew the role would go to Cox the moment she saw her.
While she had initially felt that her chances of landing the role were high, her gut told her a completely different story in the parking lot, soon as she had laid her eyes on Cox. In the end, her fears were confirmed, as the Misfits of Science star was officially cast as Monica.
Cox would go on to feature in all ten seasons of Friends. In the first season, the actress - alongside her other main counterparts - was paid around $22,500 per episode. They would eventually see that figure rise to $1 million per episode towards the final seasons of the show.
Remini Cried For Days After Missing Out On The Role
At the end of the day, Cox is estimated to have earned a total of $90 million from playing Monica. This figure is actually rising all the time, with the cast members continuing to earn from re-runs of the show on various platforms.
That is all money that could have ended up in Remini's pocket, had Cox not walked into the audition room all those years back. She wrote in the book that she cried for days after learning that she didn't get the role.
Nevertheless, in a 2015 appearance on an episode of The Howard Stern Show, she told the radio personality that she eventually managed to make her peace with it. This was largely thanks to the fact that she ended up having a significant show of her own.
"When you get your show - that’s what King of Queens was for me - that was my part, that was my show, I was meant to have that part,” she explained. “Then you can look back and go, ‘That wasn’t meant to be.’"
Remini Eventually Got To Feature On 'Friends'
Although she may have not landed the role of Monica, Remini eventually got to fulfill her dream of appearing on Friends, when she featured in the penultimate episode of Season 1, The One with the Birth. She played a woman who was delivering a baby in the same hospital as Carol Willick, Rose Geller’s ex wife.
Also working as one of the main characters on Friends was Remini's pal Jennifer Aniston, who famously and excellently portrayed Rachel Green. Aniston apparently came close to missing out on the part, which was something that had actually happened to her a few years before.
In the earlier years of her career, Remini portrayed the character Serafina Tortelli in two episodes of Cheers, also on NBC. As it would turn out, Aniston had also auditioned for the same part. Serafina was the daughter of Carla Tortelli, portrayed by award-winning actress Rhea Pearlman.
According to Remini, however, Aniston was very gracious in defeat, offering up her congratulations once her counterpart was confirmed for the role. 'Jennifer couldn’t have been sweeter,' she wrote in her book. ''Congratulations, honey!’ she said, and I could tell she really meant it.'
