Where Are Joey Tribbiani’s Sisters Now?
Apart from his maternity pants-worthy appetite, a stunningly effective pick-up line (speaking of which, “how you doin’?”), and the fact that his CV was a better work of fiction than the Mount Tibidabo backpacking story, Friends fans know that one of Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc)’s defining characteristics was his booming, Italian family.
See, Joey Sr. and Ma were a procreatively productive pair before he started "sleeping over at his accountant's" aka hooking up with Ronnie the pet mortician, and Joey had seven-ish sisters to show for it.
Over the course of Friends and on into the old college try of a spin-off series Joey, the semi-look-alike septet of sisters were a steady presence.
This is one where we play catch-up with all the Tribbiani gals.
Mary Angela
Real Name: Holly Gagnier
What you remember about her: Chandler made out with her after he got drunk to lament Janice reuniting with her husband ... and then he so forgot which one was Mary Angela.
What she's up to now: Gagnier, who's done guest stints galore since Friends, is still definitely active in the acting biz and currently stars in a recurring role on General Hospital.
Mary Therese
Real Name: Mimi Lieber
What you remember about her: When Chandler went to Joey's family home to part ways with Mary Angela in person (and still didn't know which one of the Trib sibs was her), Mary Therese pulled him aside and had a little smooch sesh of her own, which ... did not end well for anyone involved.
What she's up to now: In addition to steady guest stint gigs on TV shows like Law & Order and Judging Amy, Lieber has been mostly busy with the Broadway scene, most recently performing in Act One. She's also worked as a choreographer (cue Joey's jazz hands) in several recent productions.
Cookie
Real Name: Alex Meneses
What you remember about her: At Joey and Chandler's party, she was the one who told Phoebe she sipped on some vodka cran right after she shot her husband. Plus, she was the one who knocked Chandler out when she felt her sisters had been disrespected by him and all his tongue-swapping action.
What she's up to now: Meneses has put away her punching power but still has a lot of fight in her on NBC's Telenovela, which has her portraying major diva Isabela Santamaria (seemingly not her IRL persona, by the way), a soap star who is not used to sharing the starlight.
Dina
Real Name: Lisa Melilli
What you remember about her: Um, maybe her face? Definitely the dress.
What she's up to now: Melilli was a working actress for a solid 10 years before walking away from the biz in 1997. According to her Twitter bio, she's now a "novelist, epidemiologist, poet, news monger, tennis fanatic, [and] animal lover."
Dina 2.0
Real Name: Marla Sokoloff
What you remember about her: She was the "good one!" She even went to college, "both years!" Dina was the one who asked for Rachel's help in spilling the news to Joey that she got pregnant with the kid whose band was appropriately named Numnuts because that's exactly what he was.
What she's up to now: In addition to acting -- most recently, she starred in The Fosters and is currently filming a movie called Modern Love -- Marla Sokoloff is also a celebrity blogger.
Gina #1
Real Name: K.J. Steinberg
What you remember about her: Proooobably not a lot. She was part of the Tribbiani pack, for sure, but until the character was given a reboot for Joey a la Drea de Matteo, she was mostly situated as a background sis.
What she's up to now: It's been a hot minute since K.J. Steinberg appeared in front of the cameras because back in the mid-aughts she became a TV producer and has since been slaying the small screen with her work on shows like Gossip Girl, The Nine, State of Mind, and, currently, Mistresses.
New Gina
Real Name: Drea De Matteo
What you remember about her: While Dina #2 might've been the one to get pregnant and drive Joey (num)nuts, the sister that lived with Joey in L.A. alongside her teenage son Michael was Gina. (Sometimes we wonder if the writers couldn't tell the girls apart any better than Chandler did.)
What she's up to now: The Sopranos alum may not have found her Next Big Thing in the short-lived Joey, but she had no trouble moving forward with recurring roles on shows like Desperate Housewives and Sons of Anarchy. She currently stars as Detective Tess Nazario on NBC's new NYPD drama Shades of Blue.
Mary Theresa
Real Name: Christina Ricci
What you remember about her: Mary Theresa (a Mary Therese spin-off built for the spin-off, you might say) was the youngest Tribbiani sister who visited Joey, New Gina, and Michael in L.A. She was considered a bit of a snot who couldn't stop talking about her pool but got a rude awakening when she found out her new waterbed salesman of a fiancé had given her a fake bauble.
What she's up to now: Most recently, Christina Ricci has been giving everyone a case of the shudders with her turn as Lizzie Borden in The Lizzie Borden Chronicles, but she'll also star in the sure-to-be-saptastic family drama film Mothers and Daughters.
Tina
Real Name: Lisa Maris
What you remember about her: Tina didn't say much herself, but Joey did tell us a lot about her when he mentioned, "my little sister Tina can't see her husband anymore 'cause he got a restraining order." Later in Joey, he also revealed that she wasn't very bright and her siblings were able to trick her into thinking jelly beans were diet pills and birth control pills, both of which turned out to be cruel jokes with serious consequences.
What she's up to now: Maris quietly retreated from the biz nearly a decade ago.
Veronica
Real Name: Dena Miceli
What you remember about her: Veronica didn't get much in the way of talk time on the show, but Joey did once mention that she was easily controlled with offers of food.
What she's up to now: Apart from working as Rosie O'Donnell's stand-in on The Flintstones, Dena Miceli's Hollywood career began and ended with her stint as a blurred background Tribbiani sis in Friends.