Aniston is best known for her role as Rachel on the TV sitcom Friends, and for her serious romance with actor Brad Pitt. 

     As a child, Aniston’s family spent a year living in Greece, but settled in New York when her father landed a regular role on a daytime soap opera. Her parents divorced when she was nine and she was raised by her mother. At age eleven, Aniston joined the Rudolf Steiner School’s drama club where she developed an interest in acting. She also pursued fine art, with one of her paintings chosen for exhibit at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

     Aniston graduated from New York’s High School of the Performing Arts in 1987 and appeared in a number of off-Broadway productions, such as For Dear Life at New York’s Public Theater and Dancing on Checker’s Grave. In 1989 she had her first television appearance in the series
Quantum Leap (1989). Other television credits included Molloy (1990), Ferris Bueller (1990), Herman’s Head (1991), The Edge (1992), and Burke’s Law (1994). 

     She auditioned for a sitcom pilot called Friends Like These which ultimately was called Friends.  Aniston has played the role of Rachel Karen Green since the series’ debut in 1994. The shaggy chin-length hairstyle she adopted in the early years of the show caused a fad among young
American women who rushed out to copy her. 

          Aniston has since tried to move her career into the movies, appearing in several minor feature films in the past several years, including She’s the One (1996), Picture Perfect (1997; for which she was reportedly paid $2 million), ’Til There Was You (1997), Dream for an Insomniac (1998)
and The Object of My Affection (1998). 

     In 1998 she began a serious romantic relationship with heartthrob actor Brad Pitt after his breakup with actress Gwyneth Paltrow.