Jennifer Joanna Aniston (born February 11, 1969) is an American actress. She became famous in the 1990s for her role as Rachel Green in the US sitcom
Friends, a role for which she won an Emmy Award, a
Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
She has starred in many Hollywood films. While most of her film roles have been in comedies such as Bruce Almighty,
Office Space, Rumor Has It, and the romantic comedies Along Came Polly and The Break-Up, she has also appeared in films from other genres such as the horror-comedy Leprechaun, the crime thriller Derailed and the musical drama Rock Star.
Jennifer Aniston was born in Sherman Oaks, California, and grew up in New York City. She is the daughter of actor John Aniston and actress Nancy Dow. Aniston's father is a Greek American, born Yannis Anastassakis on the island of Crete, Greece, while her mother is of Italian-Scottish descent and was born in New York City. Aniston has two half-brothers, John Melick (older) and Alex Aniston (younger). Aniston's godfather was the actor Telly Savalas, her father's best friend. She lived in Greece for one year as a child with her family, and they later relocated to New York City. Her father has appeared in the soap operas
Days of our Lives, Love of Life and Search for Tomorrow. Aniston attended the New York Rudolf Steiner School and graduated from Manhattan's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. She worked in Off Broadway productions such as For Dear Life and Dancing on Checker's Grave. She supported herself with several part-time jobs, including working as a telemarketer and bike messenger. In 1989, she moved to Los Angeles, California.
Aniston moved to Hollywood and was cast in her first television role in 1990, starring as a regular on the short-lived series Molloy and in the TV movie Camp Cucamonga. She also co-starred in Ferris Bueller, a television adaptation of the 1986 hit movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off. The series, however, was quickly canceled. Aniston then appeared in two more failed television comedy shows, The Edge and Muddling Through, and guest-starred on Quantum Leap, Herman's Head, and Burke's Law. After the string of canceled shows, along with her appearance in the critically derided 1992 horror film, Leprechaun, Aniston considered giving up acting. Aniston's plans changed, however, after auditioning for
Friends, a sitcom that was set to debut on NBC's 1994–1995 fall line-up. The producers of the show originally wanted Aniston to audition for the role of Monica Geller, but
Courteney Cox was considered to be better suited to the role. Thus, Aniston was cast as Rachel Green. She played the character of Rachel from 1994 until the show ended in 2004.
The program was successful and Aniston, along with her co-stars, gained wide renown among television viewers. Her hairstyle at the time, which became known as the "Rachel", was widely copied. Aniston received a salary of one million dollars per episode for the last two seasons of Friends, as well as five Emmy nominations (two for Supporting Actress, three for Lead Actress), including a win for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. According to the Guinness World Book of Records (2005), Aniston (along with her female costars) became the highest paid TV actress of all time with her $1 million-per-episode paycheck for the tenth season of Friends.
Jennifer Aniston has appeared in various commercials and music videos. In 1996, she was in
Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers music video for "Walls". In 2001, Aniston was in Melissa Etheridge's music video for "I Want To Be In Love". She was cast in a Heineken commercial which was later banned due to branding issues. Aniston has also been in commercials for L'Oreal hair products. In 1994, Microsoft invited Aniston, along with
Friends co-star
Matthew Perry, to shoot a 30-minute promotional advertisement for their new operating system, Windows 95. She won critical acclaim for her performances in The Object of My Affection (1998), a comedy-drama about a girl who falls for a gay man, and in the low-budget 2002 film, The Good Girl, directed by Miguel Arteta, playing an unglamorous cashier in a small town. The latter film opened in relatively few theaters — under 700 in total — taking $14M in the U.S. box office. In late 2005, Aniston appeared in two major studio films, Derailed and Rumor Has It.
In addition to her career as a television actress, Aniston has enjoyed a successful film career. Her biggest box office success to date was her appearance in 2003's Bruce Almighty, in which she played the girlfriend of
Jim Carrey's title character. Aniston then starred in the 2004 film, Along Came Polly opposite
Ben Stiller. In 2006, Aniston appeared in the low-budget drama, Friends with Money, which was first shown at the Sundance Film Festival, received a limited release. Aniston's next film, The Break-Up, which was released on June 2, grossed approximately $39.17 million during its opening weekend, despite lukewarm reviews.
In 2007, Aniston guest starred in an episode of
Courteney Cox Arquette's series
Dirt, playing Arquette's rival, Tina Harrod. In addition to acting, Aniston has also directed a hospital emergency room-set short film called Room 10, starring Robin Wright Penn and Kris Kristofferson; Aniston has noted that she was inspired to direct by actress
Gwyneth Paltrow, who directed a short film in 2006.
Forbes listed Aniston as the 10th richest woman in the entertainment industry for the year 2007. She is behind such powerhouses as
Oprah Winfrey, J. K. Rowling,
Madonna,
Mariah Carey,
Celine Dion and
Jennifer Lopez and is ahead of
Britney Spears,
Christina Aguilera and the Olsen twins. Aniston's net worth is approximately $110 million. Aniston was also included in the annual Star Salary Top 10 of trade magazine The Hollywood Reporter for 2006. According to Forbes in October 2007, Aniston was the top-selling celebrity face of the entertainment industry. In 2008, Aniston landed the seventeenth spot on Forbes Celebrity 100 list based on "earnings and fame." Forbes listed Aniston's earnings as $27 million.
Aniston appeared in the third episode of Season 3 of NBC's
30 Rock playing Liz Lemon's old college roommate who stalks Jack Donaghy.
Aniston appears nude in a series of photographs that are published on the cover and inside pages of the January 2009 issue of GQ. She tells the magazine that she feels more comfortable today than she did in her twenties or early thirties. "I'm healthier. I'm more at peace in my mind and with my body," Aniston says. She also appears nude in The Break Up.
On December 25, 2008, Marley & Me, in which Aniston starred alongside Owen Wilson, was released. It set a record for the largest Christmas Day box office ever with $14.75 million in ticket sales.It earned a total of $51.7 million over the four-day weekend and placed #1 at the box office, a position it maintained for two weeks. The total worldwide gross was $242,717,113.
Her next film in wide release,
He's Just Not That into You, opened in February 2009. The movie made $27.5 million, ranking #1 at the box office in its opening weekend. While the film received mixed reviews, Aniston, along with Jennifer Connelly and
Ben Affleck, are often praised by critics as being the stand-outs in the film.
As of 2009, Aniston's movies have grossed $900,618,847 in the United States and over $1,508,048,564 worldwide.
Personal life
After dating her Ferris Bueller TV costar Charlie Schlatter in 1990, she began a relationship with Daniel MacDonald in 1991, which continued until 1994 shortly before she was cast in
Friends. She briefly dated musician Adam Duritz in 1995 and from 1995 to 1998, she was romantically involved with actor Tate Donovan and the couple were reportedly engaged.
In 1998, she began dating actor
Brad Pitt and married him on July 29, 2000, in a lavish Malibu wedding. For a few years, their marriage was considered the rare Hollywood success. However, the couple announced their separation on January 6, 2005. Pitt became involved with actress
Angelina Jolie, though Pitt has denied cheating on Aniston with her. Pitt and Aniston were seen together publicly after announcing their separation, even at a dinner party for Aniston's birthday, and friends of the couple had declared they were reconciling. Aniston, however, filed for divorce on March 25, 2005. It was finalized on October 2, 2005. Media reports speculated that the split was due to Aniston's refusal to have children with him. Aniston denied that this was the cause of their split in an August, 2005 Vanity Fair interview, stating, "...I've always wanted to have children, and I would never again give up that experience for a career."
Aniston revealed that her divorce prompted her to reach out to her mother, Nancy, from whom she was estranged for nearly a decade. They initially became estranged when Nancy talked about her daughter on a television show and later wrote a book entitled, From Mother and Daughter to Friends: A Memoir (1999). Aniston has also stated she was devastated by the death of her longtime therapist, whose work helped make her separation from Pitt easier. Aniston said her relationship with Pitt, which she does not regret, was "seven very intense years together" and that "it was a beautiful, complicated relationship."
Following her divorce, Aniston began a relationship with actor Vince Vaughn, with whom she costarred in The Break Up, but relationship troubles were reported in September 2006, followed by a confirmed split in December of that year. She briefly dated model Paul Sculfor for a few months in 2007 and in February 2008, she began dating singer
John Mayer. The couple had broken up in August, but resumed the relationship in October, before splitting again in March 2009.
Aniston has had two septoplasties to correct her deviated septum—one which was incorrectly done in 1994 and the second in January 2007. Septoplasty is a surgical operation that helps alleviate a common condition that can lead to breathing difficulty and trouble sleeping. She is the godmother of Coco Riley Arquette, the daughter of her good friends, actors Courteney Cox and David Arquette.
On July 16, 2009, Aniston received an Emmy nomination in the category of Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her role on
30 Rock.
Bio courtesy of
Wikipedia
