By Stephen Reynolds /
7. Rachel Green - Friends
To be fair, the (almost) Mrs. Barry Farber, DDS is introduced to viewers as an already-reforming gold digger. While certainly still possessing vapid and shallow tendencies, Green's abandoning of her engagement to the dentist (because she was more attracted to a gravy boat than her fiancé) in the pilot set off a chain reaction of events. After her disappearing bride act, she moves in with Monica, is cut off financially by her family, and begins working as a waitress at Central Perk. Leaving Barry at the altar was the catalyst for her core reinvention. The Rachel Green we meet in the pilot is a far cry from the woman she will become, and by the end of the show's 10 seasons, Rachel is a mother, and more importantly, a self-made woman who worked her way through the ranks of the fashion world under her own steam.