Jennifer Aniston

Background

Jennifer Aniston was born in the Sherman Oaks district of Los Angeles on February 11, 1969, to Greek-born actor John Aniston and actress Nancy Dow. Louis Grieco, one of her maternal great-grandfathers, was Italian. English, Irish, Scottish, and a bit of Greek are part of her mother’s ancestry. Her father’s ancestry is from Crete, Greece. Aniston has two siblings — an older maternal half-brother, and her younger paternal half-brother. Actor Telly Savalas, one of her father’s closest friends, was her godfather. As a child, she relocated to New York City. Despite her father’s employment in the television industry, she was discouraged from watching it; yet, she found ways to get around that. When she was six years old, she began attending a Waldorf school. Her parents divorced when she was nine. In Manhattan, Aniston attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music, Art, and Performing Arts. After discovering acting at the Waldorf school at the age of 11, she joined the theatrical club and had Anthony Abeson as her acting teacher. There, her roles included Lorraine Hansberry’s “The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window” and Anton Chekhov’s “Three Sisters.”

Aniston’s role as Rachel Green on the successful sitcom “Friends” was her Hollywood breakthrough after a string of minor film and television performances. “Friends” was a great hit and Aniston’s trademark hairstyle on the program was dubbed ‘The Rachel’ by the public. She worked on “Friends” for 10 years, earning $1 million each episode for the final three seasons before the show concluded in 2004. For her work on the show, she received a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award. She has since appeared in a number of dramas, comedies, and romantic comedies. “Bruce Almighty” (2003), “The Break-Up” (2006), “Marley & Me” (2008), “Just Go With It” (2011), “Horrible Bosses” (2011) “We’re the Millers” (2013) are some of her most successful films. Some of her most well-received film appearances were “Office Space” (1999), “The Good Girl” (2002), “Friends with Money” (2006), “Cake” (2014), and “Dumplin’” (2018). She returned to television in 2019, writing and starring in “The Morning Show” and an Apple TV+ drama series, and she was awarded another Screen Actors Guild Award.

In 2000, Aniston married actor Brad Pitt. Following media suspicions that Pitt had an affair with co-star Angelina Jolie, the A-list couple separated in 2005. Aniston has been linked to her “The Break-up” co-star, Vince Vaughn, and musician John Mayer. Aniston confirmed her engagement to actor and director Justin Theroux in August 2012. Theroux is recognized for his work in various comedy films such as “Strangers with Candy” (2005), “Your Highness” (2011), and “Wanderlust” (2012). In August 2015, they married in a private ceremony at their Bel Air home. The A-list couple announced their 2017 separation in a joint statement in February 2018.