Jennifer Donaldson Popular Books

Jennifer Donaldson Biography & Facts

Jennifer Joanna Aniston (born February 11, 1969) is an American actress. She rose to international fame for her role as Rachel Green on the television sitcom Friends from 1994 to 2004, which earned her Primetime Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild awards. Since her career progressed in the 1990s, Aniston has consistently ranked among the world's highest-paid actresses, as of 2023. The daughter of actors John Aniston and Nancy Dow, she began working as an actress at an early age with an uncredited role in the 1988 film Mac and Me. Her first major film role came in the 1993 horror comedy Leprechaun. She has since starred in a string of successful comedy films such as Office Space (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), The Break-Up (2006), Marley & Me (2008), Just Go with It (2011), Horrible Bosses (2011), We're the Millers (2013), Dumplin' (2018), and Murder Mystery (2019). Aniston also starred in the acclaimed independent films The Good Girl (2002), Friends with Money (2006), and Cake (2014). She returned to television in 2019, producing and starring in the Apple TV+ drama series The Morning Show, for which she received a Screen Actors Guild Award. Aniston has been included in numerous magazines' lists of the world's most beautiful women. Her net worth is estimated as $300 million, and her box office gross is over $1.6 billion worldwide. She is the recipient of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and is the co-founder of the production company Echo Films, established in 2008. Early life Aniston was born on February 11, 1969, in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood of Los Angeles to Greek-born actor John Aniston and actress Nancy Dow. One of her maternal great-grandfathers, Louis Grieco, was from Italy. Her mother's other ancestry includes English, Irish, Scottish, and a small amount of Greek. Her father's ancestry is from the Greek island of Crete. Aniston has two half-brothers: John Melick, her older maternal half-brother; and Alex Aniston, her younger paternal half-brother. Her godfather was actor Telly Savalas, one of her father's best friends. Her family moved to New York City when she was a child. Despite her father's television career, she was discouraged from watching television, though she found ways around the prohibition. When she was six, she began attending a Waldorf school. Her parents divorced when she was nine. Having discovered acting at age 11 at the Waldorf school, Aniston enrolled in Manhattan's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, where she joined the school's drama society, and where Anthony Abeson was her drama teacher. She performed in The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window by Lorraine Hansberry and Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov. Career 1988–1993: Beginnings Aniston first worked in off-Broadway productions such as For Dear Life and Dancing on Checker's Grave, and supported herself with part-time jobs including work as a telemarketer, waitress and bike messenger. In 1988, she had an uncredited minor role in the critically panned sci-fi adventure film Mac and Me. The next year, she appeared on The Howard Stern Show as a spokesmodel for Nutrisystem, and moved back to Los Angeles. She obtained her first regular television role on Molloy in 1990 and appeared in Ferris Bueller, a television adaptation of the 1986 film Ferris Bueller's Day Off; both series were quickly canceled. She starred as a teenager going to summer camp in the made-for-television film Camp Cucamonga (1990), and as a spoiled daughter followed by a vengeful leprechaun in the horror film Leprechaun (1993). A 2014 retrospective from Entertainment Weekly identified Leprechaun as her worst role, and Aniston herself has expressed embarrassment over it. Aniston also appeared in the two failed television comedy series The Edge and Muddling Through, and guest-starred in Quantum Leap, Herman's Head and Burke's Law. 1994–2004: Friends and worldwide recognition Depressed over her four unsuccessful television shows, Aniston approached Warren Littlefield at a Los Angeles gas station asking for reassurance. As the head of NBC entertainment, he encouraged her to continue acting, and a few months later helped cast her in Friends, a sitcom set to debut on NBC's 1994–1995 fall lineup. The producer wanted Aniston to audition for the role of Monica Geller, but Courteney Cox was deemed more suitable, and Aniston was cast as Rachel Green. She was also offered a spot as a featured player on Saturday Night Live, but turned it down in favor of Friends. She played Rachel until the show ended in 2004, when Aniston took a 15-year hiatus from television save for occasional guest roles. The program was a massive hit and Aniston, along with her co-stars, gained worldwide recognition. Her character was especially popular. She received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations (two for Supporting Actress, three for Lead Actress), and won for Lead Actress. She was also nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and won in 2003 as Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Aniston (along with her female co-stars) became the highest-paid television actress of all time with her $1 million-per-episode paycheck during the final season of Friends. Her character's relationship with Ross Geller, portrayed by David Schwimmer, was widely popular among audiences; they were frequently voted television's favorite couple in polls and magazines. After a four-year hiatus, Aniston returned to film work in 1996, when she performed in the ensemble cast of romantic comedy She's the One. Her first starring film vehicle was Picture Perfect (1997), where she played a struggling young advertising executive opposite Kevin Bacon and Jay Mohr. It received mixed reviews and was only a moderate commercial success; but Aniston's performance was more warmly received, with many critics suggesting that she had screen presence. In 1998, she appeared as a woman who falls for a gay man (played by Paul Rudd) in the romantic comedy The Object of My Affection, and the next year she starred as a restaurant waitress in the cult film Office Space. Aniston appeared in the dramedy Rock Star (2001) opposite Mark Wahlberg and Dominic West. She starred in the independent dramedy The Good Girl (2002) as an unglamorous cashier who cheats on her husband. The film was a commercial success in limited release, taking in over $14 million in North America. Film critic Roger Ebert declared it her breakthrough: After languishing in a series of overlooked movies that ranged from the entertaining Office Space to the disposable Picture Perfect, Jennifer Aniston has at last decisively broken with her Friends image in an independent film of satiric fire and emotional turmoil. It will no longer be possible to consider her in the same way. Aniston's biggest commercial success in film has been the comedy Bruce Almighty (2003), where she played the girlfriend of a television field repor.... Discover the Jennifer Donaldson popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Jennifer Donaldson books.