Biography

Jennifer Aniston was born on February 11, 1969, in Sherman Oaks, California and grew up in New York City. She is the daughter of the Greek-American actor John Aniston and actress Nancy Dow. Aniston has two half-brothers, John Melick and Alex Aniston. Jennifer's godfather was the late Greek American actor Telly Savalas, her father's best friend. Aniston's father was born on the island of Crete, while her maternal grandfather, Gordon McLean Dow, was of Scottish and English descent, and her maternal grandmother, Louise Grieco, was of Italian ancestry. Jennifer spent part of her childhood in Greece, but most of it in New York City, where her father appeared in the soap operas Love of Life and Search for Tomorrow. In 1985, the family moved to Los Angeles, where Aniston's father starred on the soap opera Days of our Lives as Victor Kiriakis. When she was just 9 years old her parents divorced. After the divorce, she was raised in New York City by her mother.Aniston was inspired to act after seeing the play Children of A Lesser God on Broadway. At 11, Aniston joined the Rudolf Steiner School's drama club. Aniston was, and still is, a very talented artist and at the young age of 11, one her paintings was displayed at an exhibit at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.At 15, Aniston was accepted to New York's High School For The Performing Arts. In 1987, after graduating from high school, Aniston spent a year living at home with her mom. She did not want to go to college. Instead, she worked at a burger joint called Jackson Hole in Manhattan. During those burger-pushing days, Aniston won roles in the Off-Broadway productions of For Dear Life at New York's Public Theater and Dancing On Checkers Grave. Then, a pilot of a show called Friends Like Us came along. Jennifer was originally tested for the role of Monica, but she told the producers that she felt much more comfortable with the Rachel character and they agreed. Jennifer moved to Hollywood and was cast in her first television roles 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 same year; 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 cancelled shows, along with her appearance in the critically derided 1993 horror film, Leprechaun, Aniston considered giving up acting. Jennifer'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. Life wasn't all easy for Aniston though. Before getting the role of Rachel Green on Friends, Jennifer was told to lose some weight and she did. She lost 30 pounds. Now, as the girl everyone wants to look like, fame has proven to be a bit daunting for Aniston. Now, her passions for things like antiquing, hiking, and travelling have been halted, for the time being. She can no longer go out into public without being stopped for autograph requests or photos. 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. Jennifer received a salary of one million dollars per episode for the last two seasons of Friends, as well as five Emmy nominations, 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". Aniston has starred in several theatrical films, including the cult hit "Office Space" and "Picture Perfect" (1997) . She gained the most critical acclaim for her role in the low-budget 2002 film, "The Good Girl", directed by Miguel Arteta, playing an unglamorous cashier in a small town. The film opened in relatively few theaters - under 700 in total - taking $14M in the U.S. box office. Jennifer's biggest box office success was her appearance in 2003's "Bruce Almighty", in which she played the girlfriend of title character (Jim Carrey); the film grossed $243M at the United States box office and almost twice that worldwide. Aniston's 2004 film, "Along Came Polly" (opposite Ben Stiller), also did well at the box office after opening at the #1 spot. In late 2005, Jennifer headlined two major studio films, "Derailed" and "Rumor Has It", both of which performed fairly at the box office, grossing over $36 million each despite little support from critics. In 2006, she appeared in the low-budget drama, "Friends with Money", which was first shown at the Cannes Film Festival, received a limited release, and grossed over $13 million. 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. It has currently grossed over $118 million at the U.S. box office and over $203 million worldwide. 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; Jennifer 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 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. Jennifer has been signed to play a role in the up-coming thriller "Wanted" along with Meryl Streep and Martin Hernandez. She has previously dated musician Adam Duritz, actor Paul Rudd and was engaged to actor Tate Donovan. 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. Though their marriage was, for years, considered the rare Hollywood success, rumors of trouble began circulating, and the Pitts announced their separation on January 7, 2005. As Pitt's marriage to Jennifer drew to a close, he and actress Angelina Jolie were involved in a well-publicized Hollywood scandal in which Jolie was often painted as the "other woman," largely due to their chemistry during the filming of the movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith. While Jolie and Pitt both denied any claims of adultery, speculations continued to mount throughout 2004 and early 2005. Aniston and Pitt later separated on January 7, 2005, and Aniston officially filed for divorce on March 25, 2005. The divorce was finalized on October 2, 2005. Media reports have speculated that the split was due to Aniston's refusal to have children. Aniston vehemently denied the latter in an August 2005 Vanity Fair interview, stating, "I've never in my life said I didn't want to have children... I've always wanted to have children, and I would never give up that experience for a career." (Also, in the same article, she has said that because of the divorce, she reached out to her mother, from whom she was estranged for nearly a decade. They intially became estranged when Nancy talked about Jennifer on a tv show and later wrote a book titled "From Mother and Daughter to Friends: A Memoir"). She has also stated that the death of her longtime therapist, whose work helped to make the separation from Pitt easier, more than a year ago was "devastating." Summing up her relationship with Pitt, Jennifer has said that their relationship, 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. In August of 2006, Aniston denied rumors that the two were engaged or that Vaughn had proposed. In October 2006, gossip magazine Us Weekly quoted sources from Vaughn that the couple had split. "Jen lives in a crazy, crazy world with all the press. It's just not his world." In December 2006, reps for both Aniston and Vaughn confirmed that they had indeed split up a few weeks before when she visited Vaughn in London. Courteney Cox Arquette is Jennifer's best friend. In 2007, Aniston was invited to guest star in an episode of Arquette's new television show Dirt. Aniston played Arquette's snobby rival Tina Harrod on March 27. Jennifer Aniston is also the godmother of Courtney's child, Coco. Sometimes Jennifer's life is very hard, as well as at any person, but all her fans wants to see her happy and they will be supporting her whatever happened.

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