Younger Jennifer Aniston

Full Name: Jennifer Joanna Aniston Birth Date: February 11, 1969 Birth Place: Sherman Oaks, California, U.S. Nationality: American Height: 5' 5 1/2" Education: Rudolph Steiner School in New York, N.Y.; High School of the Performing Arts in Manhattan, New York (attended night classes; majored in Psychology) Fiorello La Guardia School of Music Art & Performing Arts, New York City Claim to fame: as Rachel Green on TV Series Friends (1994)

We can all thank Jennifer`s father that he decided to move with his family from Greece to New York when she was just a one year old baby, because he enabled the development of a rare Hollywood talent. In the meantime, Jennifer has become perhaps one of the most popular television actresses of her era. She found television stardom on the hit sitcom "Friends" (1994-2004), playing Rachel Green, the spoiled rich girl making her way in life as a waitress. From the first season until its last, one decade later, "Friends" was one of the most watched and discussed sitcoms on TV, and no one could have ever predicted this. After success with "Friends", she continued her acting career in features that allowed her to display a wider array of talent. Continue reading the article to find out more about her family, her childhood and her school days, as well as details from her way to stardom.

• Jennifer was born on February 11, 1969 in Sherman Oaks, CA, and raised in New York City by her father, longtime daytime soap actor John Aniston, and her mother, Nancy, a former model-actress turned photographer.
• She spent the first year of her life living in Greece with her family, but later moved to New York, when her father landed a role on the daytime drama, Love of Life.
• Aniston's father is a Greek American, born Yannis Anastassakis, on the island of Crete, while her mother is of Italian-Scottish descent and was born in New York City.
• Despite her father’s television career, Aniston was actively steered away from watching TV, though she found ways around that prohibition.
• When she was six, Jennifer began attending the Rudolf Steiner School, a Waldorf educational school that applied the philosophy of integrating artistic and analytic learning to fulfill a child’s unique and untapped destiny.
• Aniston’s father left her mother for another woman when she was nine years old. After the divorce, she was raised in New York City by her mother.
• Little Jennifer was inspired to act after seeing the play Children of A Lesser God on Broadway. After discovering acting at the age of 11, she joined the Rudolf Steiner School's drama club. Beside successful acting, one of her paintings was displayed at an exhibit at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art at that time.
• Later she enrolled at the Fiorello LaGuardia High School of Music and Performing Arts, where she joined the school’s drama society.
• In 1987, after graduating from high school, Jennifer spent a year living at home with her mom. Instead of going to college, she worked several part-time jobs to earn some money for living, including that one in a burger joint called Jackson Hole in Manhattan, or as a telemarketer and bicycle messenger.
• During those days, she began performing in several off-Broadway productions, including «For Dear Life» at the Public Theater and «Dancing on Checker's Grave».
• Jennifer moved to Los Angeles and was cast in her first TV role in 1990, starring as a regular on the relatively short-lived series «Molloy» and in the movie «Camp Cucamonga». She also co-starred in «Ferris Bueller», a television adaptation of the 1986 hit movie «Ferris Bueller's Day Off».
• After few other minor appearances, a pilot of a show called «Friends Like These» came along. Jennifer was originally tested for the role of Monica, but she told the producers that she felt much more comfortable with the Rachel character and they agreed.
• Before getting the role of Rachel Green on Friends, Aniston was told to lose some weight and eventually she managed to lose 30 pounds.
• The program was successful and Jennifer, 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.
• According to the Guinness World Book of Records (2005), Jennifer Aniston (along with her female costars) became the highest paid TV actress of all time with her $1 million-per-episode paycheck for the tenth season of Friends.
• Jennifer was cast in a Heineken commercial which was later banned due to branding issues. Later, in 1994, Microsoft invited Aniston, along with Friends co-star Matthew Perry, to shoot a 30-minute promotional advertisement for their new operating system, Windows 95.
• In addition to her career as a TV actress, Jennifer has also enjoyed a successful film career. Her biggest box office success to date was her appearance in 2003's «Bruce Almighty», in which she played the girlfriend of title character Jim Carrey.
• Aniston dated her «Ferris Bueller» costar Charlie Schlatter in 1990. She began a relationship with Daniel MacDonald in 1991. They broke up in 1994 shortly before she was cast in Friends.
• From 1995 to 1998, she was romantically involved with actor Tate Donovan, and the couple was reportedly engaged.
• In 1998, she began dating Brad Pitt and married him on July 29, 2000, in a lavish Malibu wedding. For years their marriage was considered a rare Hollywood relationship success. However, the couple announced their separation on January 6, 2005.
• Jennifer found herself in the center of a media tempest when she announced her separation from Brad, who allegedly began a romance with Angelina Jolie on the set of their film «Mr. & Mrs. Smith».
• Aniston revealed that her divorce prompted her to reach out to her mother, Nancy, from whom she was estranged for nearly a decade. They initially became estranged when Nancy talked about her daughter on a television show and later wrote a book entitled, «From Mother and Daughter to Friends: A Memoir» (1999).
• Aniston said her relationship with Brad, which she does not regret, was «seven very intense years together" and that "it was a beautiful, complicated relationship.»
• Following her divorce, Aniston began a relationship with actor Vince Vaughn, with whom she costarred in «The Break Up». Relationship troubles were reported in September 2006, followed by a confirmed split in December of that year.
• Jennifer almost missed out on a role in The Break Up, because movie bosses thought it was insensitive to ask her to act so soon after her split from Brad Pitt.

YOU PROBABLY DIDN`T KNOW ABOUT HER:

• Her original family name is Anastassakis. Her father John Aniston had changed the spelling of his last name to Aniston before his marriage to Nancy Dow, and the last name that appears on Jennifer's birth certificate is Aniston.
• Although she is half Greek, she does not like Greek food. She is also not fond of Chinese, Indian or spicy foods.
• Has a younger half-brother, Alexander Aniston (born 1989).
• Jennifer claims watching her weight is part of her job, adding she knows she is often offered parts because of her slender frame.
• Her middle name, Joanna, was her father John Aniston's mother's name.
• Aniston's jobs before acting include waitress, telemarketer, bike messenger and receptionist.
• Shares a birthday with singer/songwriter Sheryl Crow, actor Burt Reynolds, singer Kelly Rowland, and Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park.
• Was known as a class clown in high school.
• Aniston and Brad Pitt met on a blind date set up by their agents in the spring of 1998.
• Has said that her favorite food is Mexican, and that (when they were still together), she and Brad Pitt would get Mexican food and margaritas three times a week.
• Jennifer saw ex-husband Brad Pitt with Angelina Jolie for the first time at 2009 Oscar ceremony. She presented the award for Best Animated Feature with Jack Black and as she made a joke about Jeffrey Katzenberg, the co-founder of animation company Dreamworks, and Angelina laughed.
• Believes she is so good at helping people through their love woes, she could easily have made a career from it.
• Has found an unlikely savior in the form of a paparazzo. After the photographer reportedly saved her dog Norman from a car collision.
• Her first dog, named Demetri, hated her because she would always pull on its tail. She was three. She thought it was a toy.
• Says catching re-runs of Friends still keeps her entertained, even though she doesn't like to admit it.
• Says she would like to shake things up by starring alongside Daniel Craig in the next Bond movie.
• Aniston and Owen Wilson were forced to eat dog biscuits after losing a bet on live TV in German.
• Says Angelina Jolie was uncool when she spilled details about her relationship with Brad Pitt while they were filming Mr. And Mrs. Smith.
• Universal Pictures sues blogger Perez Hilton for posting an allegedly stolen picture of topless Aniston, which comes from outtakes in The Break Up.
• Denied reports she's had a nose job, insisting she simply had a deviated septum fixed in her nose.
• Says yoga helped her heal with her split from Brad Pitt.
• Says she's fascinated by medicine and has always dreamed of becoming a doctor.
• Jennifer says she would love to record a reunion episode of TV phenomenon Friends.
• Admits that she can't stand to look at pictures of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in magazines, saying, «It's poisonous».
• Aniston and Brad Pitt have concluded their $60 million divorce settlement. Aniston got their $29 million Beverly Hills mansion, and Pitt got control of the former couple's lucrative film company Plan B Productions, with Aniston retaining only a «minor stake.»
• Has reportedly thanked Jessica Simpson for deflecting media attention away from her high-profile split from Brad Pitt with her split from Nick Lachey.
• Says she struggled to keep quiet during the break-up of her marriage to Brad Pitt, because talking is her therapy.
• Reconciled with her mother Nancy, nine years after they became estranged.
• According to relationship expert John Gray, Aniston and Brad Pitt's marriage was doomed from the start. He said, that they started out like the prom king and queen. Brad was the sexiest man and Jen the sexiest woman. That kind of pressure makes it hard to make a relationship last.
• Credits yoga with helping her get over her heartache, following her split from actor Brad Pitt.
• A life-sized photo of Aniston and ex-husband Brad Pitt has been left behind in the mansion they once shared reportedly because neither Pitt nor Aniston wanted it.
• Aniston and Orlando Bloom are the celebrities American singles would most like to stumble across in an online chat room, according to a survey by one of the leading internet US dating services.
• At one point in 2003, was filming Friends (1994), Bruce Almighty (2003), and Along Came Polly (2004) simultaneously.
• Aniston and Brad Pitt's $1-million wedding ceremony on July 29, 2000 included a flower-bedecked canopy at a Malibu mansion owned by TV producer Marcy Carsey.
• Aniston and Brad Pitt's wedding rings, designed by Pitt, were matching white gold bands decorated with small diamonds.
• Michael Baroni, her teenage sweetheart, scuttled plans to auction their romantic memorabilia on eBay after the actress asked him not to.
• Says she's Courtney Cox's best friend since the first day, when they met in 1990, on the set of their show, Friends.
• Urged the paparazzi to stop following her in her private time because she's never sure if she's being stalked by a photographer or a crazy, armed fan.
• Her parents were so desperate for her to avoid a career in showbiz, they didn't own a TV or take her to the cinema.
• Has got rid of all the designer lingerie that her former husband bought her and replaced it with a collection from Beverly Hills exclusive La Perla boutique.
• Ellen DeGeneres and her girlfriend, Portia de Rossi, have bought Brad Pitt and Aniston's Beverly Hills house.
• Terrified Aniston forced cabin staff to let her off a packed plane when it was stranded with fuel problems when she was returning to Los Angeles after filming thriller Derailed in London.
• Is one of the godmothers of Cox-Arquette's daughter, Coco.
• For his 40th birthday, Aniston gave Brad Pitt a silk-screened-on-canvas image of Steve McQueen's 1972 mug shot. McQueen is Pitt's all-time idol.
• The bouncy but heavily layered mid-length cut that her character Rachel Green sported in the sitcom Friends in the mid-nineties is voted the most influential hairstyle of all time in the poll of 2,000 women by Morphy Richards.
• Aniston, Courteney Cox and Lisa Kudrow are completely obsessed with talk of babies, according to sources on the set of Friends.
• Fell out with her mum in the late 1990s after Nancy revealed too many secrets about her daughter to the press, and then cashed in by writing a book about her famous daughter.
• Was too high-maintenance and ambitious for her ex-fiance Tate Donovan. Donovan, who dated the actress between 1995 and 1998, says she likes top-notch hotels and luxury while he likes bed and breakfasts and riding his bike.
• Wanted popular comedy Friends to end because she was worried the show would lose its fans. She feared the sitcom would be remembered for going on too long, so she wavered about committing to the current final series.
• Said that always being seen as a good girl was a burden, frustrating and annoying.
• Aniston has had two septoplasties to correct her deviated septum—one which was incorrectly done in 1994 and the second in January 2007. Septoplasty is a surgical operation that helps alleviate a common condition that can lead to breathing difficulty and trouble sleeping.
• In 1997, Jennifer was nominated for a Raspberry award as worst new star.
• Jennifer broke her toe while filming Along Came Polly. Stubbed it on an ottoman.
• She is the godmother of Coco Riley Arquette, the daughter of her good friends, actors Courteney Cox Arquette and David Arquette.

Jen with parents in Greece.

Jen with dad, 1975.

Jen with dad, 2006.

Jen on prom.

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