Jennifer Aniston was born on February 11, 1969 in Sherman Oaks, California. She is Greek and lived there a year of her childhood with her family. Her original family name is Anastassakis and her family changed it when they moved to the United States. A painting she did when she was eleven was displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She was known as a class clown in high school.

Her father is John Aniston. He is an actor and appeared on the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives. Her mother is Nancy Aniston. She was a photographer, an actress, and a model. Her mother and father divorced in 1978, when Jennifer was nine. It was her mother's second marriage. She has a half brother, Johnny Melick. His mother is Nancy Aniston. He was born in 1959 and is an assistant director. Jennifer is the stepdaughter to Sherry Rooney.

Jennifer attended the Rudolph Steiner School in New York. It is a private facility that uses the Waldorf method of teaching. The Waldorf method is that each child is unique individual and that education is an art. There, Jennifer showed an early ability in art and language. Later on, she enrolled at the New York High School of Performing Arts and is now known as the LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. She enrolled the same year that Performing Arts merged with the High School of Music & Art. Students there were offered programs of training in music, dance, drama, voice, and visual arts. Jennifer Aniston is one of LaGuardia's most successful graduates.

Jennifer has won many awards. She has won 1995's Screen Actor Guide: Outstanding Ensemble Performance in Comedy Series: Friends. In 2002 she won an Emmy for Best Actress in a Comedy Series: Friends. In 2003 she won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy Series: Friends. In 2003, she was ranked number one on Forbes "Celebrity 100 List." According to the magazine, she made 35 million dollars in 2003. She was listed in "People Weekly" "Most Intriguing People" list. She was chosen as one of People Magazine's Most Beautiful People in 1995. She was named one of E!'s Top 20 Entertainers in 2001. She was also named one of the "50 Most Beautiful People" by People Magazine in 2002.

She married Brad Pitt on July 29, 2000 in Malibu. Their agents arranged their first date. After that, they began to get serious about each other. They took several trips together. Then during a Sting concert in November 1999, Brad and Jen were asked to come onstage. When the band was singing a song about diamond rings, Brad held a diamond ring to Jen's left hand. She married her boyfriend after two and a half years. After five years of marriage, they were divorced on October 2, 2005.

Jennifer is the godmother to Courtney Cox and David Arguette's daughter Coco Riley Arquette. She invented "The Rachel", a famous hairstyle in the 90's. It was copied by a lot of women and drew much attention to her. She was known as a class clown in high school. She worked as a telemarketer and a waitress before making it as an actress. She also was a classmate of Chastity Bono.