Jennifer Aniston Life Story: What bothered her while shooting Friends?

✅ What does Matthew Perry say about her?
✅ What plot in Friends did she not like?
✅ And for which role did she get the Golden Raspberry?

JENNIFER ANISTON

It's February 11, 1969, and a future Hollywood star is born in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Her parents are Greek actor John Aniston, formerly Yannis Anitios Anastasakis and American actress and model Nancy Dow. Her godfather is one of her father's best friends: Telly Savalas, best known for his legendary role as the detective Kojak.

As a child, Jennifer spends a year in Greece, then moves to Pennsylvania and eventually New York where her father lands a role on the soap opera Days of Our Lives. When little Aniston is nine years old, her parents get divorced, and she has no contact with her father for over a year. So Jenn is raised mainly by her mother. They develop a very complicated relationship which lasts into adulthood. In as recent interview she revealed during this traumatic period her mother often harshly criticised her, telling her she was not good enough to ever be succesful.The tension between them culminates when her mother writes a book about Jennifer titled From Mother and Daughter to Friends.

To prove her mother wrong and show her she is capable of becoming famous without her support, Jennifer startas attending the Rudolf Steiner School in New York, a Waldorf School where she participates in her first theater productions. In addition to her acting talent, she also discovers she has a knack for painting. She’s such a good painter, in fact, that one of her paintings gets selected and exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, a feat that few painters ever achieve. After that accomplishment, Aniston devotes herself to art and subsequently attends the High School of Performing Arts. Her graduation in 1988 opens the door to the stage.

In the following years, she performs in multiple off-Broadway plays like For Dear Life. She doesn’t make enough money to earn a living acting in the theater, however, so Anniston also works side jobs as a waitress, a receptionist, and a bicycle messenger which Jennifer says is the worst job shes ever had. In 1990, her first television gig finally comes, the leading role in the series Molloy. She appears in seven episodes, the series never takes off. Shortly afterwards she lands other smaller roles in little known series like Ferris Bueller, Muddling Through and a comedy series called The Edge. Despite her efforts, none of the shows is successful. During this time she starts dating Daniel McDonald, and their relationship lasts for the next four years.

Jennifer starts thinking about ending her so far not very successful career. Fortunately, she gets talked out of it by the then-CEO of NBC television, who not only encourages her in her acting career, but also puts her in contact with casting for an upcoming series named Friends. She originally tries out for the role of the neat=freak chef Monica Geller, but the part goes to her future colleague Courtney Cox, and Jennifer is instead offered the role of Rachel Green.

Friends gets a very lukewarm reception at first, and there’s no immediate indication that working on the show would ever change her life. But of course, the opposite holds true, and after a few episodes it’s clear Anniston’s portrayal of Rachel's will be her breakthrough role. During the first season, the series gains popularity all over the world and maintains top viewership ratings for ten straight years, during which an unbelievable 236 episodes air. During the first season, Jennifer sports a signature hairstyle that soon becomes very popular and even gets named “the Rachel” among hairstylists. Many years later, the actress divulges she actually really hated the ‘do’, because she has to get up an hour early every day just because of her hair.

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