Jennifer Joanna Aniston (born February 11, 1969) is an American film and television actress. She became famous in the mid 1990s for playing the role of Rachel Green in the popular US sitcom Friends, a role for which she won both an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award.
She has starred in several Hollywood films, often alongside a member of the Frat Pack. While most of her film roles have been in comedies such as Bruce Almighty, Office Space, Rumor Has It, and the romantic comedies Along Came Polly and The Break-Up, she has also appeared in films from other genres, such as the crime thriller Derailed.
Aniston's marriage to actor Brad Pitt and their subsequent divorce received widespread media coverage.
Jennifer Aniston was born on February 11, 1969 in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California, and grew up in New York City.[3] She is the daughter of the actor John Aniston and actress Nancy Dow.[4] Aniston's father is a Greek American born on the island of Crete, Greece, while her mother was born in New York City of English and Scottish descent.[3] Aniston has two half-brothers, John Melick (older) and Alex Aniston (younger).[4][3] Aniston's godfather was the actor Telly Savalas, her father's best friend.[4][3] She lived in Greece for one year as a child with her family, and they later relocated to New York City.[4] Her father has appeared in the soap operas Days of Our Lives, Love of Life and Search for Tomorrow.[4] Aniston attended the New York Rudolf Steiner School[5] and graduated from Manhattan's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts.[3] She worked in Off Broadway productions such as For Dear Life and Dancing on Checker's Grave.[4] During this time, she supported herself with several part-time jobs, including working as a telemarketer and bike messenger.[4] In 1989, she moved to Los Angeles, California.[6]