Jennifer Aniston - Biography

In a nutshell

Credited with, amongst other things creating 'The Rachel haircut' frenzy in women's hair salons worldwide in the mid-90s, Jennifer Anniston starred in a number of TV flops before a successful audition for long-running sitcom Friends launched her into the mainstream.

She stayed in the role of Rachel Green for 10 years along with the other original cast members and enjoyed a record-breaking $1 million per episode paycheck for the shows tenth and final series in 2004 (an incentive to stay in a depleted sitcom if ever there was one). She became close friends with co-star Courtenay Cox Arquette off set (whose role as 'Monica' she originally auditioned for) and is godmother to her daughter Coco.

She's also famous for dabbling in frothy rom-com roles in films such as Along Came Polly and The Break Up, a typecasting she's never really managed to overcome (though her 'serious' role in independent film The Good Girl was critically acclaimed).

In reality her romantic life though has been far from frothy, her seven-year fairytale marriage to Brad Pitt ended in 2005 after he was allegedly cheating on her with fellow actress Angelina Jolie. Team Anniston! This difficult time prompted her to reacquaint with her estranged mother Nancy who had sold her daughter up the river in 1999 with a tell-all memoir about their relationship.

Since Jolie-Gate she's dated a string of co-stars such as Vince Vaughn and enjoyed an on-off relationship with singer John Mayer (officially 'off' in 2009) but true love has seemingly eluded poor Jen.

She's still box-office gold though thanks to her winsome girl-next-door acting charm, most recently starring alongside Gerald Butler in The Bounty Hunter (2010) and has earned a tidy fortune since, thank you very much.

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