London, Oct 13 – Actor James Michael Tyler, who played the coffee shop owner Gunther in the hit series ‘Friends’, says that Jennifer Ansiton was like a sister to him.

‘Jennifer was much more like a sister, a very beautiful sister. She’s just a lovely, lovely person. So kind and so giving as an actress. She was always there for you. The entire cast were all great people, very down-to-earth and grounded,’ thesun.co.uk quotes Tyler as saying.

‘People ask, ‘Oh, they couldn’t possibly be as nice as everyone says. Were they really friends?’ You think you could work with someone for 10 years and have that wonderful chemistry on screen if you weren’t actually friends off screen?’

Tyler was cast for the show in 1994.

Talking about his part, he said: ‘I never thought of Gunther as iconic, but I suppose in retrospect I do. He was peculiar to put it mildly. I always imagined he slept at the back of the coffee shop in the storage area or perhaps in his mother’s basement.

‘Gunther wasn’t a bad guy, he was just socially inept. I think the character was best as a man of few words. If Gunther had been explored further people might not have liked him as much.’