It's been a long road for Aniston. Born in California, she spent a year living in Greece and changed her original surname Anastassakis when her family relocated to New York. Her parents divorced when she was 9 years old, and she was raised by her mother. Incidentally, her father was also an actor. He played a role in the soap Days Of Our Lives (1965) - a name that crops up often in Friends.
Jennifer began acting at 11, when she joined a drama club. She went on to train professionally at New York's High School of the Performing Arts, eventually landing parts in off-Broadway productions. By 1989, she had hit television, but with roles that didn't really amount to much.
All that changed in 1994, when a series called Friends Like These was being floated.