Jennifer Aniston Biography

Early Life

Jennifer Aniston was born in Sherman Oaks, California to John Aniston and Nancy Dow. A Greek American actor by profession, John had changed his name from Yannis Anastassakis while Nancy was an upcoming actress. Jennifer has a wide variety of cultural variety in her ancestors as her father was born on the island of Crete, her maternal grandfather was of Scottish and English descent while her maternal grandmother was of Italian descent.

Jennifer spent the early part of her life in Greece with her family but moved to New York later on where her father appeared in various soap operas like ‘Days of Our Lives’, ‘Search for Tomorrow’ and ‘Love of Life’. She graduated from the Manhattan’s Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts.

Jennifer took part in several Off Broadway productions like ‘For Dear Life’ and ‘Dancing on Checker’s Grave’ which gave birth to her desire to become an actress. Along with acting, she supported herself with several part time jobs including working as a bike messenger and telemarketer.

She finally moved to Los Angeles in 1989 to pursue her dream of making it big in Hollywood.

Fame at Hollywood

Jennifer quickly landed a re-appearing role in 1990 on the television series "Molly’ and ‘Camp Cucamonga’. This was followed by short roles in a couple of television serials that were cancelled and a role in the terrible horror film ‘Leprechaun’ in 1993 which forced Jennifer to reconsider her decision to pursue a career in acting.

Luckily, she did not have to think too hard once she auditioned and was cast in the role of Rachel Green in the NBC’s sitcom ‘Friends’. The producers of the show initially wanted to cast her for the role of Monica Geller but she convinced them that she was better suited for the role of Rachel. The producers agreed and the show which began on 1994 and ended in 2004 changed her life forever. She received a pay check of one million dollars per episode during the last two seasons of Friends and earned a place in the Guinness World Book of Records for becoming the highest paid TV actress of all times. She also received five Emmy nominations and won an Emmy in the ‘Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series’ category.

Along with the success that she attained as a television actress, Jennifer also had a fairly successful film career. She gained a great deal of critical acclaim for her performance in the movie ‘The Object of My Affection’ (1998) which was a comedy drama in which she falls in love with a gay man and in the low budget film ‘The Good Girl’ (2002) where she played the role of an unglamorous cashier. Her biggest box office success till date was in the movie ‘Bruce Almighty’ where she played the love interest of Jim Carrey. Her movie ‘Along Came Polly’ with Ben Stiller also did well and opened at the number one spot.

In 2005, Jennifer starred in two major studio films, ‘Derailed’ and ‘Rumor Has It’ which did fairly well at the box office though it did not get too much of support from the critics. In 2006, she was part of ‘The Break Up’ which grossed over $200 million worldwide.

Jennifer has been listed as the 10th richest woman in the entertainment industry for the year 2007 by Forbes. Also, as per Forbes she was also the top selling celebrity face of the entertainment industry in 2007.

Personal Life

Jennifer Aniston dated musician Adam Duritz and actor Tate Donovan. She married Brad Pitt on July 29, 2000. Their marriage was considered to be a rare success in Hollywood but rumors started circulating that their relationship was strained when Brad turned up for the premiere of his movie Ocean’s 12 without Jennifer. The couple announced their separation on January 7th 2005 and the rumor mills had it that Brad was in love with Angelina Jolie who was his co-star in his latest movie, ‘Mr & Mrs Smith’. Although the two denied the same, Jennifer filed for a divorce on March 25th 2005 which was finalized on October 2nd, 2005. It has been speculated that differences crept up between the couple as Jennifer did not want a baby although this fact has been vehemently denied by Jennifer.