Friends: Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston
ACTOR

Jennifer Aniston - Instyle Magazine March 2012 issue-05-520x673

Role(s)	Rachel Green

Number of episodes	236

Gender	Female

Date of birth	February 11 1969

Age	45

Jennifer Joanna Aniston (born February 11, 1969) is an American film and television actress. She plays the role of Rachel Green on Friends, a role for which she won both an Emmy Award and a Golden Award.

She has starred in several Hollywood films, often alongside a member of the Frat Pack. 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 crime thriller Derailed.

Biography

Early life

Aniston was born in Sherman Oaks, California and grew up in New York City. She is the daughter of the actor John Aniston and actress Nancy Dow. Aniston has two half-brothers, John Melick (older) and Alex Aniston (younger). Aniston's father is a Greek American born on the island of Crete, Greece, while her mother was born in New York City of English, Scottish and Italian descent. Aniston's godfather was the late actor Telly Savalas, her father's best friend. Aniston 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.

Career

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 cancelled. 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 cancelled 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 she persuaded them that she was better suited for the role of Rachel Green. She was cast in the role and played the character from 1994 until the show ended in 2004. The program was hugely 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 co-stars) became the highest paid TV actress of all time with their $1 million-per-episode paycheck for the tenth season of Friends.

In 2007, Aniston guest starred in an episode of Courteney Cox Arquette's series Dirt. Aniston played Arquette's snobby rival Tina Harrod. In addition to acting, Aniston has also directed a hospital emergency room-set short film named 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. The are now the best of friends

Personal life

Aniston has previously dated musician Adam Duritz, and was previously engaged to actor Tate Donovan before breaking up. Her high-profile relationship with actor Brad Pitt was frequently publicized in the press. She married Pitt on July 29, 2000, in a lavish Malibu wedding. For years their marriage was considered the rare Hollywood success. However, when Pitt showed up to his Ocean's Twelve premiere without his wife, rumors that their relationship was on the rocks began. In early January 2005, the couple was seen vacationing in the Caribbean with her Friends co-star Courteney Cox and her husband, actor David Arquette, and photos on the beach showed them kissing and affectionate. They shocked their fans several days later when they announced their separation on January 7, 2005.

She has also stated that she was devastated by the death of her longtime therapist, whose work helped to make the separation from Pitt easier. Aniston has said that her relationship with Pitt, which she does not regret, was "seven very intense years together" and that "it was a beautiful, complicated relationship." Since the couple's divorce, Aniston has been romantically linked with actor Vince Vaughn, British model Paul Sculfor, actor Orlando Bloom and singer John Mayer.

In August 2006, Aniston denied rumors that she was engaged to Vaughn or that the actor had proposed. In October 2006, gossip magazine Us Weekly quoted sources from Vaughn that the couple had broken up. In December 2006, representatives for both Aniston and Vaughn confirmed that they had indeed split up a few weeks before when Aniston visited Vaughn in London.

Aniston is also a supporter of Friends of El Faro, a grassroots non-profit that helps raise money for Casa Hogar Sion -- an orphanage in Tijuana, Mexico and has appeared in a few advertisements on TV for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital.

She is stated to be the godmother of best friend and actor Courtney Cox's child Coco.

On August 12, 2012, People Magazine reported Her and Justin Theroux were engaged.

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	Camp Cucamonga	Ava Schector	TV movie
1993	Leprechaun	Tory Reding	First feature film
1996	She's the One	Renee Fitzpatrick
1996	Dream for an Insomniac	Allison
1997	Picture Perfect	Kate Mosely
1997	'Til There was You	Debbie
1998	The Object of My Affection	Nina Borowski
1999	The Iron Giant	Annie Hughes	voice dirctor
1999	Office Space	Joanna
2001	Rock Star	Emily Poule
2002	The Good Girl	Justine Last
2003	Bruce Almighty	Grace Connelly
2004	Along Came Polly	Polly Prince
2005	Rumor Has It	Sarah Huttinger
2005	Derailed	Lucinda Harris
2006	The Break-Up	Brooke Meyers
	Friends with Money	Olivia
	Room 10	n/a	Short film, Co-Director
2008	Management	Sue Claussen	premiered at TIFF
2008	Marley & Me	Jenny Grogan
2009	He's Just Not That into You	Beth	02-06-2009
2009	Traveling	Lead role	-
2010	The Bounty Hunter	Nicole Hurly	03-19-2010