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TV and movie darling Jennifer Aniston has made her fame and fortune the old fashioned way. Ahead of the release of her oddball romantic comedy Management this week, we give you the 24 facts that have shaped this mega-star.
1. Jennifer was born on 11 February 1969 in Sherman Oaks, California, before moving to Greece for a year and then relocating to New York.
2. She attended the Fiorello La Guardia School of Music, Art & Performing Arts in New York - also more commonly known as the "Fame" School.
3. Her godfather was Kojak star Telly Savalas, who was also best friend to her father, Days of our Lives star John Aniston.
4. Jen's parents divorced when she was nine years old. She was estranged from her mother, Nancy Dow, for many years after Nancy made unflattering comments about her daughter to a tabloid. Tsk, tsk, tsk.
5. Her middle name is Joanna, which was also her father's mother's name.
6. She didn’t have the best start to her acting career. Both of the series she started out in (Ferris Bueller, The Edge) were cancelled during their first seasons. She was ready to quit acting when the audition for a little sitcom called Friends came along.
7. Jennifer made her feature film debut in the awful horror flick, Leprechaun, in 1992.
8. In 2005, Jennifer and her Friends co-stars, Courtney Cox and Lisa Kudrow, became the highest paid TV actresses of all time for their $1-million per episode paycheck for the final two seasons of the show. That's $1m x 40+ episodes! Do the math!
9. Rachel Green, the character she played on Friends, is one of the most beloved TV characters of all time, and much of that was due to her famous hairstyle, which was much-copied during the 90s. It even became known as "The Rachel".
10. When she auditioned for Friends, she actually auditioned for the role of Monica Geller. The role went to her eventual BFF Courtney Cox.
11. She received a total of five Emmy nominations for her work on Friends, and eventually won the Emmy in 2002. She went on to win a Golden Globe the following year.
12. Although she is of Greek descent, Jennifer does not like Greek food. She is also not fond of Chinese, Indian or spicy foods. So now you know where not to take her on a date.
13. Jennifer is fond of playing waitresses onscreen. Her characters in Friends, Office Space, The Iron Giant and Along Came Polly were all waitresses.
14. While she doesn't have any kids of her own (yet), Jen is godmother to Courtney Cox's little daughter, Coco Riley Arquette.
15. In the 90s she briefly dated Counting Crows singer Adam Duritz, and dated actor Tate Donovan for three years, with whom she was reportedly engaged by the time they split in 1998.
16. Jennifer became one half of Hollywood's premier super-couple in 1998 when she began dating Brad Pitt. The two were married in a lavish Malibu ceremony on 29 July, 2000. Jen wore a sleeveless white silk gown by American designer Lawrence Steele, a waist-length veil and ivory-coloured Manolo Blahnik suede sandals.
17. The marriage came to a shocking end in January 2005 when the couple announced that they were splitting up. Jennifer filed for divorce in March that year, citing that old chestnut "irreconcilable differences", and the split that rocked the world was finalised that October.
18. Since then, Jen has been displaying her rather diverse taste in men. She dated her The Break-Up co-star Vince Vaughn for a year, before hooking up with male model Paul Sculfor, and then following up with toyboy rocker John Mayer. She's since been linked to another Brad - The Hangover breakout star Bradley Cooper.
19. She sued a tabloid in 2000 for publishing topless pictures of her that were taken as she was sunbathing in her backyard. The photographer was ordered to pay $500 000 in damages.
20. Jennifer is one of the most powerful celebs in Hollywood, with a net worth of about $110 million! She often ranks in the top 10 of Forbes' Wealthiest Celebrities annual lists.
21. With a body like that, of course Jennifer would have no qualms stripping off for magazine covers. She appeared on the January 2009 cover of GQ magazine with nothing but a necktie to cover her modesty.
22. While she's probably best known for her comedic roles, Jen received some of her best reviews for her performance as an unhappily married woman who has an affair with a younger co-worker (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) in the 2002 indie drama The Good Girl.
23. Not to be outdone by the woman who is now dating her ex, Jennifer supports many charities. She has lent a hand to orphanages in Mexico, appeared in ads for a children's hospital and made a guest appearance on Oprah's Big Give to donate money.
24. Noticed how Jen's nose looks a bit different now to how it did in the early 90s? She had her, ahem, "deviated septum" fixed in a surgical procedure in 1994 (effectively, she had a nose job), but it didn’t go well. She went back under the knife in 2007 – and now she can breathe easier and have a slimmer nose. How lucky for her.
