Happy Birthday, Jennifer Aniston!

Around 12 years ago, when I really started getting into movies, I was hooked on Jennifer Aniston. Well, her and Jake Gyllenhaal. But as a 14 year old girl trying to work out where on earth to start in the movie world, I honed in on my favourite actress from my favourite TV Show, Friends. We’d just got a family eBay and Amazon account, and the knowledge that I could spend my pocket money on anything I wanted online was amazing to me at the time.

I could even use the internet to look up all of Jennifer Aniston’s movies, and read what they were about to see if they sounded like something I would enjoy. It’s bizarre to even type this right now!

My point being, that even now I love Jennifer Aniston as much as I did back then. So, in honour of her birthday today, I wanted to share my three favourite Jennifer Aniston performances.

I had to start where it all began, didn’t I? Friends seems to be a hit and miss show for people but it was my entire childhood! My friends and I would rush to school on a Thursday morning to talk about the episode from the night before, and I haven’t been to a house that hasn’t had a copy of the boxset. Fashion has never been my forte, so I idolised Rachel Green. 

All I wanted was for all of my friends to move into the same apartment building and spend every living moment with each other. Rachel would be my best friend and take me shopping. And then I grew up, and realised that some days living with my fiance was difficult enough, and I’ve just spent an hour tidying this living room so no, I don’t want any guests!

The Good Girl was the movie of my adolescent years. This was the goldmine for me, my favourite actor and my favourite actress together in a movie. I was an angsty 15 year old, just learning what depression was, but not really knowing how to deal with it, and so I can’t remember the amount of times I re-watched this. That was a terrible coping mechanism, looking back on it, ha!

Anyway, Jennifer Aniston’s character Justine was completely different to Rachel in Friends, and I do still admire her performance in this. Whenever anyone tells me she’s only good in comedies I always bring up The Good Girl.

How is Horrible Bosses 5 years old already?! This has to be my favourite comedy of all time! It’s nothing groundbreaking I know, but I think the cast as a whole just work so well together. Despite my thoughts on Jennifer Aniston’s more serious side, it’s movies like this where she really shines. I mean come on, you don’t have to be a heterosexual male to find Dr Julia Harris smokin’ hot!

I’d love to see some of the outtakes of her lines, I don’t know how anyone kept a straight face. I’m actually laughing to myself just thinking about it! I very nearly included We’re The Millers, which is another great comedy that I highly recommend. She plays a similar character in that.