Jennifer Joanna Aniston is an American actress, producer, director and entrepreneur of Greek origin, winner of Emmy, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild of America.
Place of Birth, Education
She was born on February 11, 1969 in the town of Sherman Oaks, in the state of California of the United States of America (USA), in the family of actors John Aniston and Nancy Doe.
At one time, she studied at the Rudolf Steiner School in New York, where she first showed her acting talent.
When Aniston was 9 years old, her parents divorced. She stayed to live with her mother, but often visited her father in Los Angeles.
At the age of 11, she began performing in the school drama club.
She received her professional acting education in 1987, graduating from the LaGuardia School of the Arts in New York. After that, she participated in several Broadway plays, including “For Dear Life” and “Dancing on Checker’s Grave”.
Career
For some time she worked as a courier and was engaged in telephone marketing.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, she participated in Howard Stern’s radio show.
Later, she moved to Hollywood, where in 1990 she got her first television role in the series “Molloy”, and also played in the television movie “Camp Cucamonga”.
Later, she starred in the TV series “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, “The Edge” and “The One Who Got Out”, and also appeared as a guest actress in the projects “Quantum Leap”, “Herman’s Head” and “Burke’s Law”.
After a string of failed or canceled television series, as well as criticism of the horror film The Leprechaun, in which she starred, Aniston considered leaving her acting career.
“Friends”
Everything changed after the actress came to the casting of the series “Friends”, which started on NBC in 1994. Initially, the producers saw actress Courteney Cox in the role of Rachel Green, but she said that she was closer to the image of Monica Geller. When Aniston appeared at the auditions, it became obvious that she was best suited for the role of Rachel.
The actress performed this role throughout the entire period of the release of the series – from 1994 to 2004. “Friends” became a worldwide hit, and Aniston, along with other leading actors, gained immense popularity.
For her role as Rachel Green, Aniston was nominated five times for an Emmy Award and won Best Actress in a Comedy Series.
In 2003, she also received a Golden Globe for the same role.
During the breaks between filming the series, she starred in feature films. Her first notable work on the big screen was a minor role in the independent comedy “Only She Is the One”.
In 1997, the actress got her first major role in the romantic comedy “Portrait of Perfection”. Although the film itself received mixed reviews, Aniston’s performance was highly praised. During the same period, she starred in the films “The Slipping Ideal”, “The Thin Pink Line” and “Office Space”, and also voiced the main character of the cartoon “Steel Giant”.
In 1998, she starred in the tragicomedy “The Object of My Fascination”, and in 2002 in “Good Girl”.
Further career
One of Aniston’s most successful works in 2003 was the fantastic comedy “Bruce Almighty”, where she played the role of the girlfriend of the main character, played by Jim Carrey.
In 2004, the actress starred with Ben Stiller in the comedy “Here Comes Polly”.
At the end of 2005, she played the main roles in the films “The Price of Betrayal” and “There Are Rumors”. Both films were successful at the box office.
In 2006, the low-budget film “Friends with Money” was released in limited release.
The next project of the actress was the romantic drama “American Divorce”, which critics perceived with restraint, but the film showed good results at the box office.
Also in 2006, Aniston tried herself as a director, shooting the short film “Room 10”.
On December 25, 2008, the comedy “Marley and Me” was released, in which Aniston’s partner was Owen Wilson.
The next work was the romantic comedy “To promise does not mean to get married.” Despite mixed reviews from critics, Aniston’s performance, as well as her colleagues – Ben Affleck, Jennifer Connelly, Scarlett Johansson and Drew Barrymore – was positively assessed.
In March 2010, the premiere of the film “Bounty Hunter” took place, in which Aniston starred alongside Gerard Butler.
The next work of the actress was the comedy melodrama “More than a friend.” The film did not live up to expectations and failed at the box office, but its ratings were somewhat better than those of “Bounty Hunter”.
On February 11, 2011, the romantic comedy “Pretend to be my wife” was released.
In the summer of the same year, the comedy “Unbearable Bosses” was released, starring Aniston, Jason Bateman, Colin Farrell, Kevin Spacey and Jamie Foxx.
On February 22, 2012, the actress was awarded her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. A couple of days later, the premiere of the comedy “Wanderlust” took place.
On August 3, 2013, the comedy “We are the Millers” was released.
On September 14, at the Toronto International Film Festival, the premiere of the crime comedy “Steal My Wife” took place, where Aniston’s partners were Isla Fisher and Tim Robbins.
At the beginning of 2014, the filming of the film “Unbearable Bosses 2” began – a continuation of the comedy of 2011. In September, the premiere of the drama “Cake” took place at the Toronto International Film Festival. The latter film received rave reviews from critics, and the actress’s performance earned her nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Awards and the Golden Globe. However, in the end, both awards then went to Julianne Moore.
In 2016, the romantic comedy “Unbearable Ladies” was released. The tape received rave reviews from critics.
In December 2018, Netflix introduced the musical comedy “Donuts”, where Aniston acted not only as the lead actress, but also as a producer.
In the same year, the actress began working on two more projects for Netflix – the comedy “Murder Mystery” and the series “First Ladies”.
On November 1, 2019, Aniston reappeared on television, playing the main role in the drama series “The Morning Show”. For this work, she received the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series, and was also nominated for an Emmy Award and twice for a Golden Globe in the category of Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama.
In May 2021, she reunited with her colleagues from the series “Friends” in the HBO Max special – “Friends: Reunion”. For her production work on the project, she was nominated for an Emmy Award in the category “Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded)”.
Marital Status
Aniston has been in a relationship with musician Adam Duritz and actor Tate Donovan.
On July 29, 2000, she married Brad Pitt. Their marriage was widely discussed in the press. The couple separated on January 7, 2005, and the official divorce took place on October 2 of the same year. Among the reasons for the breakup, the media named Pitt’s romance with Angelina Jolie and Aniston’s alleged unwillingness to have children, although the actress herself denied these statements.
After her divorce from Pitt, Aniston had a relationship with actor Vince Vaughn. Over time, she began dating musician John Meyer.
During the filming of the film “Bounty Hunter”, she had an affair with Gerard Butler.
Since 2011, she has been in a relationship with actor Justin Theroux. On August 5, 2015, the couple got married, but in February 2018 it became known about their breakup.
In early November 2019, the media reported on the actress’s new relationship with director Will Speck, whom she met in 2016 while working on the film “New Year’s Corporate Party”.
