Maggie Wheeler

Margaret Emily "Maggie" Wheeler (née Jakobson; born August 7, 1961) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Janice on the sitcom Friends, she was a recurring character on Everybody Loves Raymond as Linda and Anita Warrell on the sitcom Ellen.

Personal life

Wheeler was born in Manhattan, the daughter of Barbara, a writer, and John Jakobson, a member of the New York Stock Exchange. She is married to Daniel Borden Wheeler, and has two children.

Career

In the 1980s, Wheeler (under her maiden name of Jakobson) briefly dabbled in voice acting on the animated series SilverHawks, where she provided all the female voices, specifically the villainess Melodia and the heroine Steelheart/Emily Hart, and on the Karate Kat and Mini-Monsters segments of The Comic Strip.

It was rumored that Wheeler auditioned for the role of Monica Geller, however after many interviews she stated that it was a false rumour, she was however invited to play Janice Goralnik, a recurring character who was a frequent love interest of main character Chandler Bing. She appeared at least once in each season; her 19 episodes tie her with Christina Pickles for Friends’ second most frequent guest actor, behind only Elliott Gould's 20 episodes.