Thanks to a rare combiniation of winsome girl-next-door charm and vulnerability, wholesome sex appeal and whip-smart comic timing, Jennifer Aniston found TV stardom playing Rachel Green, the spoiled rich girl making her way in life as a waitress and fashion buyer who relies on her “Friends” in the hit NBC sitcom, becoming one of the most popular actresses of her era. The petite, attractive actress grew up around show business; her godfather was actor Telly Savalas, her mother was a model and actress and her father had a career as a soap opera player. After graduating from NYC’s famed High School for the Performing Arts in 1987, Aniston embarked on her career which consisted of TV commercials and a handful of Off-Broadway productions.

At age 20, she headed west and soon landed roles in a string of short-lived sitcoms, generally cast as spoiled or bratty siblings as in “Molloy” (Fox, 1989) and “Ferris Bueller” (NBC, 1990-91). A stint on the Fox variety sketch series “The Edge” (1992-93) further honed her comedic skills; she is perhaps best-recalled as a member of the paranoid, weapons-toting ‘Armed Family’. After an agent suggested she lose weight, Aniston shed 30 pounds and won the role of Rachel on “Friends” (1994-2004). Although her shag hairdo got a lot of attention, she proved to be a gifted light comedienne, skillfully moving her character from a pampered girl to a self-reliant woman, along the way, engaging in a romance with the divorced Ross Geller (played by David Schwimmer), and later with the thick but loveable Joey (Matt LeBlanc). The role made Aniston a superstar and earned her four successive Emmy nominations (2000-2003), twice as Best Supporting Actress and twice as Best Lead Actress–she would take home the Lead Actress Emmy in 2002, as well as a Golden Globe in 2003.

While Aniston had appeared in the low-budget schlocky horror outing “Leprechaun” (1993), her small screen success led to feature offers. She tried to move slowly away from her TV image with supporting turns as the unhappily married wife of a womanizing stockbroker in Edward Burns’ “She’s the One” (1996) and an acerbic cameo as an overwhelmed young woman juggling career and motherhood in the otherwise forgettable “‘Til There Was You” (1997). Her first lead, as an ambitious advertising executive who creates a fake boyfriend to insure her climb up the corporate ladder, in “Picture Perfect” (1997) proved both a critical and box-office disappointment but Aniston bounced back in the more serious role of a pregnant woman who forms a bond with her gay roommate in “The Object of My Affection” (1998). She had what was essentially a supporting role in “Office Space” (1999) and voiced the mother of the boy who discovers “The Iron Giant” (also 1999) in that underrated animated feature.

In 1997 Aniston became romantically to the handsome movie actor Brad Pitt, placing them on magazine covers as Hollywood’s reigning “It” Couple for years to come. They married in July 2000 in a storybook Malibu wedding illuminated by fireworks. The couple worked together professionally only once, when Pitt appeared on a 2001 episode of “Friends” as a formerly fat high school class mate and onetime pal of Courteney Cox’s Monica with a long-simmering resentment of Aniston’s Rachel.

Aniston next appeared as the love interest to a salesman (Mark Wahlberg) who joins a heavy metal band in “Rock Star” (2001), anchoring the lightweight, high-concept film with its most convincing and emotional presence. In 2002, Aniston made an impressive debut on the indie-film scene as a conflicted housewife/retail worker in “The Good Girl,” playing a bored and forlorn Midwestern housewife who discovers that throwing caution to the wind and bucking her staid life is not everthing she imagined it would. The following year, Aniston paired with Jim Carrey for the hit comedy feature “Bruce Almighty” (2003) as the girlfriend of a man gifted with God’s powers. She fared even better in her follow-up “Along Came Polly” (2004), playing against type as a free spirit who teaches her risk-fearing new beau (Ben Stiller) how to take chances. The role cemented Aniston’s status as a potential A-list movie star just as “Friends” drew to an end in May 2004.

As she moved on to her next projects, Aniston found herself in the center of a media tempest when she announced her split from Pitt, who subsequently appeared to responsible for the breakup when it appeared he began a romance with actress Angelina Jolie on the set of their film “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” (2005). The drama played out in the entertainment media for several months, with Aniston finally giving a teary-eyed interview to Vanity Fair that, while taking some pains to play fair and amicable, decidely cast her as the unsuspecting victim and Pitt as the cad. Ironically, during the media firestorm Aniston was shooting “The Break-Up” (lensed 2005) in Chicago with actor Vince Vaughn, playing a divorcing couple struggling to continue to cohabitate. Rumors swirled of a budding relationship between the two stars, and despite denials they did appear to be a couple by fall of 2005 when Aniston had two films hitting theaters: the first, “Derailed,” cast the actress and Clive Owen as two married business executives having an affair who are blackmailed by a violent criminal and must turn the tables to save their families; the second, director Rob Reiner’s “Rumor Has It,” saw Aniston playing Sarah Huttinger, who learns that her family was the inspiration for the book and film “The Graduate” — and that she just might be the offspring of the notorious storyline.

• Also Credited As:
  Jennifer Joanne Aniston
• Born:
  on 02/11/69 in Sherman Oaks, California
• Job Titles:
  Actor, Messenger, Receptionist, Telemarketer, Waitress

Family

• Father: John Aniston. born c. 1933; appeared in NBC daytime serial “Days of Our Lives”; divorced from Aniston’s mother in 1980, leaving her for another woman; family name was originally Anastassakis
• Godfather: Telly Savalas. born on January 21, 1924; died on January 22, 1994
• Half-brother: John Melick. born c. 1959; mother, Nancy Aniston
• Mother: Nancy Aniston. born c. 1936; had been previously married before her 1965 marriage to John Aniston; divorced from Aniston in 1980; because of comments made in a TV interview c. 1995, daughter has ceased contact; wrote book “From Mother and Daughter to Friends” (1999)

Significant Others

• Husband: Brad Pitt. married on July 29, 2000 in Malibu, California
• Companion: Adam Duritz. with band Counting Crows; dated briefly in 1995
• Companion: Charlie Schlatter. dated when they co-starred on “Ferris Bueller” in 1990
• Companion: Daniel MacDonald. dated in the 1990s; broke up just before Aniston was cast in “Friends”
• Companion: Tate Donovan. together since November 1995; born on September 25, 1963; separated c. April 1998

Milestones

• 1989 Moved to L.A.
• 1989 Shot the pilot for the Fox sitcom “Molloy”
• 1990 Co-starred as Jeannie Bueller in the NBC sitcom “Ferris Bueller”, based on the hit movie
• 1990 TV series debut in the summer replacment series, “Molloy”; cast as the spoiled stepsister of the title character
• 1990 TV-movie debut, “Camp Cucamonga” (NBC)
• 1993 Feature acting debut, “Leprechaun”
• 1994 Cast as Rachel Green in the NBC ensemble comedy, “Friends”; received Emmy nominations in 2000 and 2001
• 1994 Had featured role on the CBS sitcom “Muddling Through”
• 1996 Made guest appearance on the short-lived Fox series “Partners”, featuring her boyfriend Tate Donovan
• 1996 Returned to features co-starring as Mike McGlone’s unhappy wife in Edward Burns’ “She’s the One”
• 1997 Had first leading role in the light romantic comedy “Picture Perfect’
• 1998 Tackled first quasi-dramatic role as a pregnant woman who falls in love with her gay roommate in “The Object of My Affection”
• 1999 Co-starred in “Office Space”, Mike Judge’s first live-action feature
• 1999 Voiced the character of Annie Hughes, the mother of the boy who discovers “The Iron Giant”
• 2001 Cast opposite Mark Wahlberg in “Rock Star”
• 2002 Received a SAG nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series, for her role in “Friends”
• 2002 Starred in “The Good Girl”; screened at Sundance
• 2003 Received an Emmy nomination for Best Actress in a Comedy Series for her role on “Friends”
• 2003 Starred, along with Jim Carey,in the feature “Bruce Almighty”
• 2004 Appeared for the second time as the host of “Saturday Night Live”
• 2004 Co-starred with Ben Stiller in the romantic comedy “Along Came Polly”
• 2004 Received a People’s Choice nomination for Favorite female television performer
• 2005 Starred opposite Clive Owen in the thriller “Derailed,” about an advertising executive whose life takes a Hitchcockian turn when he misses his commuter train
• 2005 Will star in “Rumor Has It,” a ‘Graduate,’ inspired comedy by Rob Reiner.
• Appeared Off-Broadway in “For Dear Life” at New York’s Public Theater
• Appeared in two episodes of the Fox sitcom “Herman’s Head” playing the younger sister of the title character
• Born in Sherman Oaks, California
• Cast as a regular in the Fox sketch variety series, “The Edge”
• Lost 30 pounds after her agent suggested she wasn’t being cast because of her weight
• Raised in New York City after parents’ divorce
• Set to star opposite Clive Owen in the thriller “Derailed,” about an advertising executive whose life takes a Hitchcockian turn when he misses his commuter train (lensed 2004)
• Starres in “Rumor Has It,” a ‘Graduate,’ inspired comedy by Rob Reiner (lensed 2004)
• Will star in the remake of the 1966 British crime caper “Gambit,” screenplay by Joel and Ethan Coen (lensed 2004)
• Will star opposite Meryl Streep in “Wanted,” a women-in-prison drama being produced by Aniston’s company Plan B
• Will star opposite Vince Vaughn in “The Break Up,” a comedy that follows the aftermath of a couple’s breakup (lensed 2005)