Jennifer Aniston's parents were both actors and encouraged her high school interest in drama. Aniston had a few minor roles before landing her career-defining role on the TV sitcom Friends as Rachel Green. Since its conclusion in 2004, the actress has starred in numerous films, including The Break-Up, Horrible Bosses and Cake. Aniston also won a SAG Award in 2020 for her role in the TV series The Morning Show.

Early Life

Jennifer Joanna Aniston was born on February 11, 1969, in Sherman Oaks, California. The daughter of soap opera star John Aniston and actress Nancy Dow, Aniston began appearing in stage productions in the late 1980s. She attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York City, where she was active in drama.

'Friends'

After several minor film and television roles, Aniston hit Hollywood gold by playing Rachel Green on the hit sitcom Friends. Friends was a huge success, with the nation even dubbing Aniston's signature hairstyle on the show as "The Rachel." She stayed with Friends for 10 years, banking $1 million per episode for the last three seasons, until the show ended in 2004. She won both a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award during her tenure on the show.

Film Career

'Office Space,' 'Bruce Almighty,' 'The Break-Up'

Aniston has also nurtured a big-screen career, often alternating between small, independent films like 1999's Office Space and 2002's The Good Girl and big-budget productions like the Jim Carrey vehicle Bruce Almighty (2003). Other films include 2004's Along Came Polly opposite Ben Stiller, Derailed (2005) and Rumor Has It (2005). In 2006, she continued her mix of filmmaking styles with the ensemble production Friends with Money, which opened at Cannes, and the blockbuster romantic dramedy The Break-Up.

'Marley & Me,' 'He's Just Not That into You'

Aniston starred in Marley & Me alongside Owen Wilson in 2008. It set a record for the largest Christmas Day box office ever, with more than $14 million in ticket sales and a No. 1 ranking at the box office. Her next film, He's Just Not That into You, premiered in February 2009. The movie made $27.5 million, again ranking No. 1 at the box office in its opening weekend. While the film received mixed reviews, Aniston's performance was praised by critics.

'Horrible Bosses,' 'We're the Millers,' 'Cake'

Aniston has continued to keep steady work in her genre of comedies and romantic comedies. In 2011, she starred in the film Horrible Bosses alongside Jason Bateman, Colin Farrell and Jason Sudekis. She would later work with Sudekis again in We're the Millers (2013). In 2014, she starred in Horrible Bosses 2 as well as the drama Cake, for which she earned a Golden Globe nomination.

'Mother's Day,' 'Office Christmas Party,' 'The Yellow Birds'

The actress was featured in multiple movies during a busy 2016, joining the ensembles gathered for the rom-com Mother's Day and the comedy Office Christmas Party, while also delivering voice work for the animated Storks. She then appeared in the war drama The Yellow Birds, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in early 2017.

'Dumplin',' 'Murder Mystery,' 'The Morning Show'

After signing on for a series of projects with Netflix, Anniston appeared in the 2018 coming-of-age comedy Dumplin', as a former beauty queen who struggles to connect with her teenage daughter, before teaming up with Adam Sandler in June 2019 for Murder Mystery. That fall, she returned to a full-time TV gig with the TV series The Morning Show, alongside Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell.

Personal Life

Aniston married actor Brad Pitt in 2000. The A-list couple divorced in 2005 following media speculation that Pitt had an affair with co-star Angelina Jolie. Afterward, Aniston was romantically linked to The Break-Up co-star Vince Vaughn and musician John Mayer.

In August 2012, Aniston announced her engagement to American actor and director Justin Theroux, known for his roles in several comedy films, including 2005's Strangers with Candy, 2011's Your Highness and 2012's Wanderlust, which also starred Aniston. In August 2015, they married in a secret, private ceremony at their home in Bel Air.

In February 2018, the A-list couple announced in a joint statement that they had separated late the previous year. Initially intending to keep the matter private, they decided to "convey the truth directly" to address the media speculation. "We are two best friends who have decided to part ways as a couple, but look forward to continuing our cherished friendship," they said.

In the media

Wealth

Aniston is one of the world's highest-paid actresses as of 2018. She has been on the Forbes Top Earning Actresses list for 15 years, every year since 2001—and since then also on its Celebrity 100 list (based on "earnings and fame"), topping it in 2003. According to Forbes, in October 2007, Aniston was the best-selling celebrity face of the entertainment industry.

The magazine estimated her net worth at $110 million in 2007, and $200 million in 2017. It listed her earnings as $19.5 million in 2018.

Public image

Aniston has been included in various magazine lists of the world's most beautiful women. In 2005, she became the first GQ Woman of the Year. She has frequently appeared on People magazine's annual list of Most Beautiful Women, topping the ranking in 2004 and 2016. She also topped the magazine's Best Dressed List in 2006. She has been a regular on FHM's 100 Sexiest Women in the World list since 1996, most recently ranking at number 79 in 2012. In 2011, The Daily Telegraph reported the most sought-after body parts of the rich and famous revealed by two Hollywood plastic surgeons who carried out a survey among their patients to build up the picture of what the perfect woman would look like. Under the category of the most sought-after body shape, Aniston was voted in the top three, alongside Gisele Bündchen and Penélope Cruz. In the same year, readers of Men's Health voted Aniston as the Sexiest Woman of All Time. Men's Health also included her on its 100 Hottest Sex Symbols of All Time list, explaining that "Her down-to-earth persona makes her seem attainable, and anyone who's seen her in Office Space has to admit she makes even pieces of flair look good. She rarely plays the airhead, and she seldom overplays a role: she's funny in a quiet, refreshingly human way. And her all-too-human love life off screen inspires sympathy that not even a string of bland romantic comedies can diminish. Other sex symbols drift toward one-dimensionality, becoming flat icons in the process, but throughout her career Aniston has remained sexy, funny, and unmistakably real." Although Aniston disliked the hairstyle she wore during her first two years on Friends, "The Rachel" became very popular.

Other ventures

Aniston has appeared in commercials and music videos throughout her career. After starting on Friends, Aniston and her co-star Matthew Perry shot a 60-minute instructional video for the release of Microsoft's Windows 95 operating system. The next year she appeared in commercials for L'Oréal hair products.

Under a contract with Elizabeth Arden, Inc., Aniston worked for over a year on her first perfume, which was released in July 2010. Original plans called for the perfume to be named "Lolavie by Jennifer Aniston", but to avoid confusion with a similarly named perfume, the name was changed to simply "Jennifer Aniston". In 2014, she launched her second perfume, named J, followed by Near Dusk (2015), Beachscape (2016), Luxe & Chapter One (both in 2017), Chapter Two (2018), Silver & Solstice Bloom (both in 2020).

Since 2007, she has worked in a publicity campaign for the drink SmartWater; on March 7, 2011, she released a YouTube video for SmartWater, Jennifer Aniston Goes Viral, which tripled online interest in the product within 24 hours of its release. In 2012, Aniston co-founded hair care brand Living Proof and also became its spokeswoman. She left when the company was sold to Unilever in 2016. In January 2013, she became the new spokeswoman of Aveeno Skincare. She replaced Daniella van Graas as Aveeno's spokesmodel and became its new "face". Reportedly, Aniston is paid "eight figures" for her endorsement. She became the new face of Emirates airline in 2015, which was reportedly a success. For pharmaceutical company Shire, she appeared in a 2016 campaign raising awareness about chronic dry eye.

She appeared in the 1996 Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers music video for "Walls", and in 2001, in Melissa Etheridge's music video for "I Want to Be in Love". She also appeared in a Heineken commercial.

Along with Brad Pitt and Brad Grey, CEO of Paramount Pictures, Aniston founded the film production company Plan B Entertainment in 2002, although she and Grey withdrew in 2005. In 2008, she and producer Kristin Hahn formed Echo Films.

Philanthropy

Aniston has been a celebrity advocate for numerous charities and received attention for her own donations. She has appeared in television commercials for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, and hosted September 2008's Stand Up to Cancer show. In the "It Can't Wait" campaign to free Burma, Aniston directed and starred in a video. She is a supporter of Friends of El Faro, a nonprofit organization that helps raise money for Casa Hogar Sion, an orphanage in Tijuana, Mexico.

Aniston and Kristin Hahn during a tour of the Inova Breast Care Center in Alexandria, Virginia, in October 2011. They co-produced the breast-cancer-related film Five.
On April 14, 2007, Aniston received GLAAD's Vanguard Award for her contributions to increased visibility and understanding of the LGBT community. In 2013, she was named the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF) ambassador for the Saks Fifth Avenue Key to the Cure campaign, which raises funds for the EIF Women's Cancer Research Fund. In 2015, she supported the Comic Relief, Inc. charity. Other charities that Aniston has publicly supported include Clothes Off Our Back, Feeding America, EB Medical Research Foundation, Project A.L.S., OmniPeace, and the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network.

Aniston donated $500,000 to Doctors Without Borders, Haitian health care provider Partners in Health and AmeriCares, and also participated in the Hope for Haiti Now telethon. She donated $500,000 to the Red Cross and another $500,000 to the Ricky Martin Foundation in 2017 to help victims of hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.

After being honored by SmartWater in 2016 for her ongoing philanthropic work for St. Jude's, Aniston spoke of the importance of philanthropy in her life to InStyle magazine: "We live an extremely beautiful, fortunate life being able to do what we get to do for a living. And so it's a way of being able to be in a position to do something for people who are less able. It's something that makes my heart smile."

Acting credits and awards

Aniston received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations, two Golden Globe Award nominations, and nine SAG Award nominations for her role in Friends. From these, she won one of each. She also garnered a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for her guest appearance in 30 Rock, while her performance in Cake earned her nominations at the Golden Globe and SAG awards. Aniston additionally won a SAG Award and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and two Golden Globe Awards for the first season of The Morning Show. Its second season earned her two SAG Award and two Golden Globe Award nominations. For producing Friends: The Reunion, she received another Primetime Emmy Award nomination.

According to review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes and the box-office site Box Office Mojo, Aniston's most critically acclaimed and commercially successful films are Office Space (1999), The Good Girl (2002), Bruce Almighty (2003), Friends with Money (2006), The Break-Up (2006), Marley & Me (2008), Just Go with It (2011), Horrible Bosses (2011), We're the Millers (2013), and Dumplin' (2018).