On "Friends", who guest starred in the fifth season as Joey's girlfriend who hit him?

On "Friends," Soleil Moon Frye guest-starred in season five as Joey's girlfriend who hit him. She played Katie in "The One with the Girl Who Hits Joey," the fifteenth episode of the season. Katie initially seems cheerful, affectionate, and harmless, but she repeatedly punches Joey's arm with surprising force.

Katie does not regard the punches as aggression; she treats them as playful expressions of affection. Joey, however, is genuinely hurt and becomes increasingly nervous around her. The episode turns the mismatch between her intentions and his experience into its central comic conflict. Rachel recognizes that Joey needs help and ultimately confronts Katie, while Joey struggles to explain that the behavior is painful.

Soleil Moon Frye was already widely known for playing the title character in "Punky Brewster," which ran from 1984 to 1988. The name is sometimes misspelled "Soliel," as in the stored answer, but the actress's canonical spelling is "Soleil Moon Frye." The character Katie appears only in this episode, making the guest role a memorable one-off appearance in the series.