Friends icon ‘looks even better’ 30 years later after becoming show’s villain

One of Friends’ most memorable characters, who became a villain of the series, has been hailed for ‘ageing like a fine wine’ three decades later.

In 1994 when the beloved sitcom launched, straight away fans were dying to find out when Ross (David Schwimmer) and Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) would finally get together.

However, several obstacles stood in the way before they finally expressed their feelings for each other… one of them being a man who charmed his way into Rachel’s heart, before being exposed as a slimy philanderer.

That was, of course, her ex-boyfriend Paolo, played by Italian actor Cosimo Fusco.

Cosimo, now 62, made his debut on Friends in the seventh episode of Friends, which was titled The One with the Blackout, when it was revealed that he was the owner of a cat that the gang found in their building.

Despite Ross’ obvious yearning for Rachel, she and Paolo sparked up a relationship, which ended five episodes later after he tried to make a pass at Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow).

However, that wasn’t the last that Friends fan saw of Paolo in the show, as he returned briefly in season two when Rachel – upset over Ross’ new romance with Julie (Lauren Tom) – spent the night with him.

While Cosimo is best-known for his performance as Paolo, in the years after his role, he starred in films including Gone in Sixty Seconds and Angels & Demons, and in TV shows including Alias and The Mentalist.

Nonetheless, Friends fans were in shock to see what he looks like now when Reddit user RayoftheRaver shared a recent picture of him in a post on the platform.

‘Aged like a fine wine (way better now than in 94),’ MysteriousRadish2063 commented, while lisa-delrey wrote: ‘Man he’s good looking. But then again he always was.’

While some Reddit users pointed out that Paolo’s outfit hilariously bore a resemblance to the clothes worn by Shrek, others defended his mid-90s style.

‘Seriously, his style and look in the show was THE look at the time,’ Softstones stated.

SlightlyIncandescent remarked: ‘He was always a good looking guy, they just deliberately used hair and costume to make him look like someone from the cover of an erotic novel, as slimy as possible.’

Some people pointed out that now, Cosimo bears a strong resemblance to actor Vincent Cassell, while someone else going by the handle LopsidedEquipment177 claimed that he resembled an ‘AI Jeff Goldblum.’

IrascibleOnion also shared: ‘Waaaaaay more attractive now. I can’t tell if it’s the hair, the outfit or both.’

On New Year’s Eve last year, Cosimo posted a picture of himself on Instagram in front of an advertisement for his HBO Europe TV series 30 monedas, writing in his caption: ‘Thanks to all my Spanish family for the fantastic past year and the memorable new year ahead. ❤️.’