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Jennifer Aniston (born February 11, 1969) is an Emmy- and Golden
Globe-winning American film and television actress. Aniston 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
hugely popular television sitcom Friends for which she won a Golden Globe and an
Emmy Award.
She has since focused heavily on her film career, having starred in several
successful Hollywood films, including Bruce Almighty, Along Came Polly and The
Break-Up. Aniston was married to, and eventually divorced from, actor Brad
Pitt.
Jennifer Aniston's most memorable contribution to 90's pop culture is "the Rachel,"
a hairstyle that became very popular, and is symbolic of Aniston's popularity, her
rise as a top Hollywood actress, and celebrities' influence on American
fashion.
 Early
life
Aniston was born in Sherman Oaks, California and grew up in New York City. She is
the daughter of the Greek-American actor John Aniston (originally Ioannis
Anastasakis) and actress Nancy Dow. Aniston has two half-brothers, John Melick and
Alex Aniston. Aniston's father was born in the island of Crete, while her maternal
grandfather, Gordon McLean Dow, was of Scottish and English descent, and her
maternal grandmother, Louise Grieco, was of Italian ancestry. Aniston's godfather
was the late Greek American actor Telly Savalas, her father's best friend. Aniston
spent part 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 as Victor Kiriakis. Aniston graduated from Manhattan's Fiorello
H. Laguardia High School of Arts and Performing Arts. Among her high school friends
was future gay 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 canceled. Aniston then appeared in two more failed
television comedy shows, The Edge and Muddling Through, and guest-starred on
Quantum Leap, Herman's Head and Burke's Law. After the string of cancelled 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 that 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 viewers. Her hairstyle at the time, which became known as the "Rachel",
was widely copied. Aniston received a salary of one million dollars per episode for
the last two seasons of Friends, as well as five Emmy nominations, including a win
for "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series". According to the Guinness World
Book of Records (2005), Aniston (along with her female costars) became the highest
paid TV actress ever with her $1 million-per-episode paycheck for the tenth season
of Friends.
Aniston was the very first guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. The gifts she brought
her are featured on every show.[2] She appeared on a promotional video for
Microsoft about Windows 95 alongside her Friends co-star Matthew Perry.
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 film opened in relatively few theaters - under 700 in total -
taking $14M in the U.S. 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 after opening at the #1 spot. 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 $36 million each despite
little support from critics. In the same year, she appeared in a European Heineken
television commercial frequently aired before UEFA Champions League matches.
In 2006, People magazine voted her Best Dressed. She was also labeled "the natural"
by the same magazine. The same year, Aniston appeared in the low-budget drama,
Friends with Money, which was first shown at the Cannes Film Festival, received a
limited release, and grossed over $13 million. Aniston's next film, The Break-Up,
which was released on June 2, grossed approximately $39.17 million during its
opening weekend, despite lukewarm reviews. It has currently grossed over $118
million at the U.S. box office and over $203 million worldwide. Aniston was
involved in a controversy connected to this movie when outtakes from The Break Up
revealing her topless appeared over the internet.
She will co-direct a hospital emergency room-set short film named Room 10, starring
Robin Wright Penn and Kris Kristofferson; Aniston has noted that she was inspired
to direct by actress Gwyneth Paltrow, who directed a short film in 2006.
Forbes listed Aniston as the 10th richest woman in the entertainment industry for
the year 2007. She is behind such powerhouses as Oprah Winfrey, J. K. Rowling, and
Jennifer Lopez and is ahead of Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and the Olsen
twins. Aniston's net worth is approximately $110 million. Aniston was also included
in the annual Star Salary Top 10 of trade magazine "The Hollywood Reporter" for
2006.
Source : Some of the information on
this page came from a Wikipedia article and is licensed under the GNU
Documentation License. ©2008 www.geneticmatrix.com.
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Jennifer
Aniston - Manifestor - Biography
