Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Aniston (born
February 11 1969) is a
Golden Globe and
Emmy Award-winning
American actress. She grew up in
Greece,
California, and
New York City, and began appearing in stage productions in the late
1980s. After several lesser known film and television roles during the early
1990s, Aniston came to fame playing
Rachel Green on the highly popular television
sitcom Friends. She has since established a film career, having starred in several Hollywood films, including
Bruce Almighty and
Rumor Has It. Aniston has also become known for her marriage to, and eventual divorce from, actor
Brad Pitt, and for her much-rumored subsequent relationship with actor
Vince Vaughn.
Early life
Aniston was born in
Sherman Oaks,
California to actor
John Aniston (originally Ioannis Anastassakis) and his then-wife Nancy Dow, who was also an actress; she has two half-brothers, John Melick (older) and Alex Aniston, who is younger. Aniston's father is
Greek and her mother has
Scottish and
Italian ancestry. Aniston's
godfather was the late
Greek American actor Telly Savalas, who was her father's best friend, and Aniston spent some 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.
Aniston attended
Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, and was a member of the drama club; among her high school friends was future human rights activist
Chastity Bono. Aniston's desire to become an actress grew as she worked in
Off-Broadway productions such as
For Dear Life and
Dancing on Checker's Grave. During this time, she supported herself with several part time jobs, including working as a
telemarketer and bike messenger.
Career
Aniston appeared as a "Nutri-System" girl on
The Howard Stern Radio Show in the late 1980s and early 1990s. She 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 teen movie
Ferris Bueller's Day Off, the same year; the series was quickly cancelled. Aniston then appeared in two more failed sitcoms,
The Edge and
Muddling Through, and guest-starred on
Quantum Leap,
Herman's Head and
Burke's Law. After this string of canceled shows, along with her appearance in the critically-derided 1993
horror film,
Leprechaun, Aniston seriously considered giving up acting.
Aniston's plans changed, however, after auditioning for
Friends, a sitcom which 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 very successful and Aniston, along with her co-stars, gained wide renown among
television watchers. Her hairstyle at the time, which became known as a "Rachel", was widely copied (
see also Dido flip). Aniston received a salary of one million dollars per episode for the last three seasons of
Friends, as well as five
Emmy nominations, including a win for "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series".
Aniston has starred in several theatrical films, including the cult hit
Office Space. 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 filmed opened in just 4 theatres in opening weekend at under 700 in total - taking $14m in the US 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.
In late 2005, Aniston headlined two major studio films,
Derailed and
Rumor Has It, both of which performed fairly at the box office, grossing over $30 million each.
Derailed earned her much praise for taking a different role and doing it well. In the same year, she appeared in a
European
Heineken television commercial frequently aired before
UEFA Champions League.
Also in 2006, Aniston appeared in the low-budget drama,
Friends with Money, which received a limited release. This was another low budget film for the star following
The Good Girl and
Dreams of an Insomniac. Aniston starred in the comedy
The Break-Up, which was released on
June 2 and grossed approximately $39.17 million during its opening weekend, despite negative reviews.
It has currently grossed over $116m at the US box office.
Aniston is currently slated to star in
The Senator's Wife,
Wanted and
Diary, but none have yet begun filming.
Image
Due to the success of
Friends and her obvious good looks and
sex appeal, Aniston quickly became a household name and the primary image that developed of her was through her on screen character Rachel, which was that of a sexy "girl next door" type. Her good girl image on and off the screen led to her being frequently labeled as
"America's Sweetheart". This is an image which Aniston has seemed to want to keep, as many of the roles she has taken in movies since
Friends portray a similar "good girl" image rather than anything darker or risque, which has led to Aniston also being perceived as quite prudish.
Aniston's status as a style icon and
sex symbol has been constant, with her haircuts and fashion quickly becoming popular and emulated, and her name being constantly featured in many "Sexiest Women" lists. She has also appeared in countless photoshoots for many of the top magazines in the world, amassing a large number of male and female admirers. Furthermore, Aniston was declared as having
"The most perfect legs in Hollywood" in mid
2006 after an official
scientific investigation by electronics giant
Braun was completed, beating out fellow Hollywood celebrities such as
Jessica Simpson and
Christina Aguilera [see [
1] [
2]].
Support for John Kerry
In April 2004, she and Brad Pitt went to a fundraiser for Democraticpresidential hopeful
John Kerry. Many other Hollywood stars werepresent
[Hollywood comes out for Kerry, accessed August 7 2006].
Personal life
Aniston has previously dated musician
Adam Duritz and was engaged to actor
Tate Donovan. Her high-profile relationship with movie star
Brad Pitt was frequently publicized in the media. She married Pitt on
July 29,
2000, in a lavish
Malibu wedding. The two 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 an extramarital affair on Pitt's part (with actress
Angelina Jolie) or due to Aniston's refusal to have children. Aniston vehemently denied this 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. I want to have it all".
She has also stated that the loss of her longtime therapist, whose work helped to make the separation from Pitt bearable, more than a year ago was "devastating".
Summing up her relationship with Pitt, Aniston has said that their marriage, which she does not regret, was "seven very intense years together" and that "it was a beautiful, complicated relationship".
She owns a house in
Carmel-by-the-Sea,
California, in the same town as
Brad Pitt.
Since the couple's divorce, Aniston has been romantically linked with well-known actor
Vince Vaughn.
Recently rumors arose that Aniston called off the engagement between her and Vaughn due to his rowdy behavior.
*
1995:
Screen Actors Guild Award: Outstanding Ensemble Performance in a Comedy Series,
Friends*
2001:
People's Choice Award: Favorite Female Television Performer,
Friends*
2001: Aftonbladet TV Prize, Sweden: Best Foreign TV Personality- Female,
Friends*
2002:
Emmy Award: Best Actress in a Comedy Series,
Friends*
2002:
People's Choice Award: Favorite Female Television Performer,
Friends*
2002: Hollywood Film Festival: Actress of the Year
*
2002:
Teen Choice Award: Choice TV Actress- Comedy,
Friends*
2002: Aftonbladet TV Prize, Sweden: Best Foreign TV Personality- Female,
Friends*
2003:
Golden Globe Award: Best Actress in a Comedy Series,
Friends*
2003:
People's Choice Award: Favorite Female Television Performer,
Friends*
2003:
Teen Choice Award: Choice TV Actress- Comedy,
Friends*
2003:
Teen Choice Award: Choice Movie Actress- Drama/Action Adventure,
The Good Girl*
2003: Aftonbladet TV Prize, Sweden: Best Foreign TV Personality- Female,
Friends*
2004:
Logie Awards: Most Popular Overseas Star,
Friends*
2004:
People's Choice Award: Favorite Female Television Performer,
Friends*
2004:
Teen Choice Award: Choice TV Actress- Comedy,
Friends*
2004: Aftonbladet TV Prize, Sweden: Best Foreign TV Personality- Female,
FriendsFootnotes
External links
*
Jennifer Aniston Fansite (August 06, 2006)
*
Dark Horizons interview (December 12, 2005)
*
BBC interview (February, 2004)
*
IGN Films interview (January 14, 2004)
*
MovieHole interview (July 19, 2002)
*
A Girls' Word interview (September 8, 2001)
