Timeline

1976 At age 6, John and Nancy Aniston enroll Jennifer in Manhattan's Rudolf Steiner School, which encourages students to refrain from watching TV and movies. When Aniston's half brother John Melick babysits, she sneaks in episodes of Donny & Marie and The Bionic Woman. "She'd make that ba-na-na-na-na sound effect around the house, running around directing herself in scenes from the show," Melick told PEOPLE in 1997. "I guess she was destined for television." 1990 Before moving to Hollywood, Aniston skips college and waits tables at a Manhattan burger joint while auditioning for stage roles. Father John Aniston, who played daytime soap villain Victor Kiriakis on Days of Our Lives, advises her against being an actor. "It's not the kind of business anybody would wish on their child," John told PEOPLE in 1997. "It's fine if it goes the way it has gone for her, but if not, it can be devastating." 1993 The actress appears in the horror flick Leprechaun, but there is no pot of gold at the end of opening weekend: The film pulls in just $3.3 million. However, her luck changes the following year when she reads for a new sitcom called Friends. She lands the part of Rachel Green just three hours after her audition. 1995 Aniston's layered haircut dubbed "The Rachel," after her Friends character, launches a national trend. "It's bizarre," 26-year-old Aniston tells PEOPLE in December. "I keep thinking, 'Wait – it's just me!' " 1996 Aniston's mother, Nancy, gives an interview about her famous daughter, commenting on Friends and "The Rachel" to a tabloid TV show, which leads to her estrangement with her daughter. Their relationship will further be severed when Nancy writes a book about their mother-daughter relationship. Aniston shares the screen with Edward Burns and Cameron Diaz in She's the One. It will be the first in a string of romantic comedies for the actress, including Picture Perfect and The Object of My Affection with Paul Rudd. But it isn't until 1999's cult classic Office Space that Aniston brings her real comedic chops. The role helps her years later: Director Miguel Artera said he remembered her performance when he cast 2002's The Good Girl. 1998 The actress and her reported love interest, Brad Pitt, set a red-carpet trend for future celebrity couples: At the premiere of Pitt's Meet Joe Black the stars arrive in separate limos to avoid being photographed together. That evening, however, the pair discreetly holds hands and kiss at a party. 2000 In a top-secret Malibu ceremony, Aniston and Pitt wed. Aniston promises to always make her husband's "favorite banana milkshake" in front of their 200 guests, including Courteney Cox Arquette and Salma Hayek. The wedding costs an estimated $1 million which includes 50,000 flowers, four bands, Dom Perignon and fireworks. The newlyweds go on to purchase a $13.5 million six-bedroom Beverly Hills estate complete with wine cellar and screening room. They spend millions renovating it, despite different design tastes. (Aniston later admits that she never cared for Pitt's modern design style.) 2002 The actress receives glowing reviews at Sundance for her un-Rachel-like role in the indie hit The Good Girl, costarring Jake Gyllenhaal. When the film hits theaters in August, Aniston's raves continue rolling in. In its ninth season, Friends wins the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy and Aniston takes home the Leading Actress statuette for the first time. Aniston's long wait for an Emmy was prolonged by stammering presenter Bob Newhart. "It felt like a year," she tells PEOPLE. "I thought maybe it was going to somebody else." 2004 After ten years on one of America's most unforgettable sitcoms, Aniston and her costars tape the final episode of Friends. Major waterworks and as Aniston calls it, "inevitable pain" ensue. 2005 After spending the New Year's weekend in the Caribbean with friends Cox Arquette and husband David Arquette, Aniston and Pitt announce that they are separating. They deny the split was a result of published reports linking Pitt to Mr. and Mrs. Smith costar Angelina Jolie. Aniston files for divorce in March. Reports emerge that Aniston and Vince Vaughn are dating while they film The Break-Up in Chicago. Although the costars deny a romance, Aniston and Vaughn return to the Windy City in October to shoot new scenes for the movie and are spotted kissing and being extremely affectionate. Aniston's highly anticipated interview in Vanity Fair hits newsstands. She tells the magazine that family planning had nothing to do with her split with Pitt: "That really pisses me off. I've never in my life said I didn't want to have children. I did and I do and I will!" She also takes a stab at Pitt's platinum hairdo: "Billy Idol called – he wants his look back." A month later, their divorce becomes official, and the mansion they once renovated and shared goes up for sale for $28 million – more than double what they originally paid. When asked what she likes about being on her own, Aniston says, "I can have a comfortable couch." Two months after their divorce is legalized, Pitt adopts Jolie's children, Maddox and Zahara. In January 2006, Jolie announces that she and Pitt are expecting a child together. "Don't feel sorry for me!" Aniston tells Vogue. 2006 Aniston speaks out on The Oprah Winfrey Show after news outlets CNN and The Today Show falsely report that Aniston is marrying Vaughn. "[The rumors] are so unbelievable," Aniston told Oprah. Back in September 2005, Aniston had dismissed the original rumors of romance with Vaughn on Oprah's show. Aniston and Vaughn's comedy The Break-Up makes $38.1 million its opening weekend. The real-life couple break up in December after more than a year together. At the 6th Annual 24 Hour Plays on Broadway benefit, Aniston makes her Broadway debut portraying a single woman who attends an intimacy workshop with friends. Costar Rosie Perez tells PEOPLE: "We had a real boost from Jennifer Aniston. She was as sweet as pie." 2007 Aniston makes her fifth appearance on PEOPLE's Most Beautiful list, crediting yoga for keeping her toned and emotionally balanced. The fitness-buff, who is often photographed carrying smartwater, invests and appears in ads for the brand.

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