Biography: Jennifer Joanna Aniston (born Jennifer Linn Anastassakis on February 11, 1969 in Sherman Oaks, California, USA) is an Emmy-winning American actress best known for playing Rachel Green on the television sitcom Friends. She married actor Brad Pitt on July 29, 2000, and they separated on January 7, 2005. Aniston officially filed for divorce on March 25, 2005 citing irreconcilable differences. In a September 2005 interview with Vanity Fair Aniston revealed that Brad Pitt became "emotionally unavailable" when he began filming Mr. & Mrs. Smith and that she was very hurt when pictures later surfaced of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie cavorting together on a beach in South Africa. However, she also asserted that she did not think he cheated on her when they were married. Jennifer is currently estranged from her mother, Nancy. Her Greek-American father, John Aniston, an actor best known for his role on the soap opera Days of Our Lives, made his best friend Telly Savalas (TV's "Kojak"), her godfather and also changed the family name from their original Greek surname "Anastassakis" to the more American sounding Aniston, which he discovered while traveling through Alabama. After spending a year living in Greece, the family returned to the States, settling in New York where her father John Aniston (Yannis) won a part on the U.S. soap opera Love of Life and later Search for Tomorrow. In 1985, the family moved to Los Angeles when John Aniston started on Days of Our Lives. Attending Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts during 1987, Aniston was a member of the drama club. Her desire to become an actress grew as she worked in off-Broadway productions such as For Dear Life and Dancing on Checker's Grave. She moved to Hollywood and appeared on her first television roles in 1990, starring as a regular on the short-lived series Molloy and in the TV movie Camp Cucamonga. She also co-starred in Ferris Bueller the same year, a television adapatation of the classic 1986's teen flick Ferris Bueller's Day Off (it barely lasted a season). Aniston then starred in two more failed sitcoms, The Edge and Muddling Through and guest-starring on shows such as Quantum Leap, Herman's Head, and Burke's Law. After this string of flops (and appearing in Leprechaun), Aniston seriously considered quitting acting, until a script for a new sitcom on NBC's 1994-1995 fall line-up came her way. In 1994, the producers of a new NBC show called Friends originally wanted Aniston to audition for the role of Monica Geller, but she persuaded them that the role of Rachel Green was more suited to her character. She played the character until the show ended in 2004. Aniston has also recently began a successful film career, recently flourishing after the end of Friends.