It’s been 30 years since Friends first aired.

Take a deep breath, we know that’s a lot to take in, but the iconic sitcom just celebrated its 30th anniversary, and one of its original stars was unrecognisable in his latest surprise role.

Geoffrey Lower appeared in the third ever episode, The One With The Thumb, as Monica Geller’s (Courteney Cox) then-boyfriend Alan.

Monica was nervous about introducing her bearded beau to the gang in case they scared him off or didn’t approve, but they loved hanging out with him.

He even managed to convinced Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry) to quit smoking, but it wasn’t enough to win Monica over, and she ended up breaking things off.

It turns out Alan wasn’t a fan of the rest of the gang, although Monica spared their feelings, and he was never seen on the show again.

It wasn’t Lower’s first big TV role – the previous year, he made his first appearance as Rev. Timothy Johnson in Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman – a role he played 113 times over the next five years.

He also appeared in the likes of Quantum Leap, Matlock, NCIS and Beverly Hills, 90210 over his 30-year career, with one of his first parts coming in 1991 classic Hook.

Lower is still keeping busy too, having just appeared in Disney+’s latest Star Wars series Skeleton Crew.

Sharing a string of photos from his recent projects on Instagram, he wrote: ‘December dump. Skeleton Crew finally aired. Merchant Captain getting roughed up by the Pirates and thrown out the air lock.’

He highlighted a ‘dark’ short film he took part in called One More Minute, which carried ‘a lot of heart’, while he also had to ‘prove he could actually fish for a commercial audition’.

On his official website, Lower’s bio reveals he ‘splits his time between acting, creating homes for Angelenos with his wife, hanging out with his sons and a large Akita named Kioko’.

Friends legend completely unrecognisable 30 years after starring in first season