Jennifer Linn Aniston, who plays Rachel on Friends, was born on 2 November 1969, in Sherman Oaks, California but was raised mostly in New York. Her father, John Aniston, is an actor on "Days of Our Lives", and her godfather is Telly Savalas so young Jennifer was around acting from an early age. Jennifer has Greek ancestors, and actually spent some time in Greece as a child, before settling in New York because of her father's acting career (specifically he landed a role on "Love of Life").

At age eleven, she joined the Rudolf Steiner School's drama club. Jennifer says, "I was always fascinated by acting, but my experience at Rudolf Steiner encouraged me to pursue it as a career. Steiner was a free-spirited school that encouraged creativity and individualism." It was here that she developed a passion for art.

Jennifer started her professional training at New York's High School for the Performing Arts as a drama student. She graduated there in 1987. She appeared in Off-Broadway productions of "For Dear Life" and "Dancing on Checker's Grave", before her first TV role on "Molloy". Other TV shows graced with her presence include "The Edge", "Ferris Bueller" (the TV version), a recurring role on "Herman's Head", and even some guest appearances on "Quantum Leap" and "Burke's Law".

Jennifer is also an artist. At the age of 11 one of her paintings was selected for display in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. Even now she still spends a lot of time on art projects, including charcoal drawings, clay sculptures, and paintings.

During her hiatus during the summer of 1995, Aniston completed production on the feature film "Dreams for an Insomniac" starring Ione Skye and Mackenzie Astin. She also starred with Quentin Tarrentino in an interactive tutorial CD-ROM directed by Steven Spielberg.

In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, camping, and getting closer to nature especially with her two dogs Enzo and Katchina.