Friends star and Emmy award-winner Jennifer Aniston knows what it’s like to be under the public magnifying glass. Few actors have received the sort of gratuitous attention that Aniston and her famous ex-husband Brad Pitt have had directed at their personal lives. Fortunately, Aniston has consistently demonstrated the poise and public humility that is the stuff of Hollywood legend, and she is without a doubt on the edge of becoming one of the most beloved movie stars on the planet.
Aniston was born in Sherman Oaks, CA on February 11, 1969 to actor parents John Aniston and Nancy Dow, who divorced when Jennifer was nine. Her original family name was Anastasakis, but after spending a year of her childhood in Greece the family changed their name upon moving to New York City, where Aniston grew up with her mother and attended the prestigious High School of the Performing Arts. After graduating, Aniston developed her craft in Off-Broadway shows like "For Dear Life" and "Dancing on Checker’s Grave" before moving on to roles on ill-fated TV programs like "Molloy", "Ferris Bueller" (a spin-off of the popular film), "The Edge", and "Muddling Through", all of which were failures and made Aniston re-think her acting career.
"Friends", one of the most popular sitcoms in history, changed everything for the frustrated actress. Originally pegged to audition for the role of Monica (eventually made famous by Courteney Cox), Aniston convinced the show’s producers to give her a shot at the part of Rachel Green, an employee at the coffee shop that became a regular set for the show. As they say, the rest is history – "Friends" quickly became a breakout hit and made the show’s entire principal cast into household names. In 2001 it was announced that Aniston would receive a million dollars for every remaining episode of the show, and the following year she received an Emmy for Best Actress in a Comedy Series in 2002.
During the latter half of the ten-year "Friends" run on NBC, Aniston began an impressive feature film career as well, starring in "The Object of My Affection" with Paul Rudd and in the cult mega-hit "Office Space". A major vehicle for her, the 2001 film "Rock Star" with Mark Wahlberg, proved to be a minor setback as it was a huge failure with audiences and critics alike. The hitch was short-lived though, as her following three films – "The Good Girl", "Bruce Almighty" (with Jim Carrey), and "Along Came Polly" (with Ben Stiller) – were solid hits and boosted Aniston’s profile as a leading lady. The first of these films, the low-budget "The Good Girl", proved that Aniston possessed major acting chops to match her considerable charm and on-screen beauty. Her role was unflattering when compared to her previous work, but it was smartly suited to her famously unaffected and honest demeanor.
Throughout this period, as Aniston’s fame grew considerably, she was married to superstar Brad Pitt. The tabloid frenzy over their five-year marriage was so intense that US Weekly published a commemorative book of coverage on the gorgeous couple after their separation in early 2005. Throughout the year media speculation on the couple’s break-up intensified as rumors that Pitt’s "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" co-star Angelina Jolie was involved in the split became common fodder for magazine covers.
By the end of 2005, Aniston had proved she didn’t need a famous husband to hold her own as a movie star. Her two films "Rumor Has It" and "Derailed" were both modest successes, and audiences are eagerly awaiting her 2006 summer comedy The Break-Up with long-rumored beau Vince Vaughn. Aniston’s warmth, beauty, and everyday appeal have been delighting audiences for more than ten years, and luckily it’s no gamble to expect little to change in the decades to come.