From Friends to Cake, Look Back at Jennifer Aniston's Best Roles

By Kelsey Klemme Oct 17, 2019 1:00 PMTags
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Watch: Jennifer Aniston People's Icon: E! People's Choice Awards

We can't stop freaking out because Jennifer Aniston is this year's People's Icon Award!

On Wednesday, E! announced that the iconic actress will be the second ever recipient of the honor at the 2019 E! People's Choice Awards for her many accomplishments over the decades in TV and film.

Of course, we all knew her for ten seasons as Rachel Green in Friends—after all, she won both a Golden Globe and Emmy Award for her portrayal of everyone's favorite girl-next-door—but the 50-year-old star has made us laugh in cry in many other outstanding roles, like her dramatic, award-nominated performance in Cake.

Whether it's one-off guest appearances on sitcoms like 30 Rock or Cougar Town, where the performer still stands out, or as the lead in a blockbuster, our Netflix queue is full of movies and TV shows that showcase the California native.

While we eagerly await the release of her Apple+ series The Morning Show, where Aniston serves as an executive producer, let's take a look back at the seasoned performer's best roles over her career.

While Aniston is guaranteed to go home at the PCAs with a trophy, there is still time to help your other favorite celebrities go home with the hardware, too.

Voting is still open, so head to the official People's Choice Awards site or take to Twitter to cast your ballot for which celeb you want to see end up with a win.

Be sure to tune into the live show on Nov. 10 to see Aniston receive the award and find out who else goes home as a champion.

Leprechaun

Jennifer Aniston has had her share of costars. A leprechaun, however, easily takes the cake for most unusual.

Friends

For 10 seasons—beginning in 1994—Aniston played everyone's favorite gal pal Rachel Green on Friends. She nabbed a Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy Award for her portrayal of our favorite girl-next-door...and her iconic haircut. 

She's the One

Trouble arises for Aniston's on-screen marriage to Mike McGlone when a new woman comes into the picture in this 1996 rom-com.

Office Space

Aniston's character Joanna does not need 37 pieces of flair to express herself, OK? 

Rock Star

This 2001 film is a classic. In it, Aniston's Emily Poule dates Mark Wahlberg's Chris "Izzy" Cole who has dreams of being a rock star, which he achieves while totally looking the part.

The Good Girl

Aniston's not-so-funny role in The Good Girl as a discount store clerk who strikes up an affair with a moody Jake Gyllenhaal was a huge hit with critics.

Bruce Almighty

The actress plays Grace, who is in love with Bruce Nolan (Jim Carrey) despite his change in behavior and new duties as God.

Along Came Polly

Ben Stiller's character wasn't sure what he got himself into when he started dating Aniston's Polly Prince in this 2004 flick. After some spicy food and salsa dancing, there was no denying these co-stars had chemistry.

Friends With Money

After leaving her high-paying job, Aniston's Olivia reevaluates her successful and wealthy friends choices as well as her own.

The Break-Up

Talk about a nasty separation. Aniston and Vince Vaughn play a couple whose relationship had so many issues we can't even count them in this rom-com.

30 Rock

In 2008, Aniston graced our screens in the iconic sitcom 30 Rock as Claire Harper, a former roommate of Liz Lemon (Tina Fey). Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) takes to Claire and ignores Liz's advice that she's crazy, only to find Claire stealing a gun from a police officer and planting it on him at the end of the episode. Aniston's portrayal of the insane character got her a nomination at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards in the Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series category. 

Marley & Me

If you are a dog lover, tissues are a necessity while watching Aniston and Owen Wilson help raise, and later say goodbye, to their lab named Marley.  

He's Just Not That Into You

Based on the best-selling book about romance and dating dynamics, this star-studded movie includes Aniston as well as Ben Affleck, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Connelly and many others.

Love Happens

Aniston thinks she has found the man of her dreams with Aaron Eckhart in Love Happens, but unfortunately, his wife's passing could be holding him back from true love.

The Bounty Hunter

If there's anyone we'd like to have arrest us, Gerard Butler would definitely be on the list. In this 2010 action-comedy flick, Butler plays a bounty hunter sent after Aniston's character for skipping out on bail, only to see the two rekindle their connection.

The Switch

Jason Bateman as an accidental sperm donor?! Trouble, confessions and laughs ensue in this comedy where Bateman ends up being an unintentional father figure to Aniston's precocious son.

Cougar Town

It might've just been a cameo, but when Aniston teamed back up with Friends costar Courteney Cox to appear on her show as Glenn, we were overjoyed!

Just Go With It

The California native plays Katherine, the assistant to Danny (Adam Sandler), who finds herself pretending to be his ex-wife while on a complicated trip to Hawaii with his new girlfriend and her kids. Hilarity ensues as the pair figure out the hard way that their love stories might be more connected than they'd like to admit.

Horrible Bosses

Aniston as a horrible boss? We can't imagine. In the 2011 comedy, however, Aniston gives Charlie Day's character a run for his money as Stacy the dentist, his boss who is sexually harassing him. She also reprised her role in the 2014 sequel Horrible Bosses 2 and was equally as funny.

Wanderlust

In Wanderlust, a couple find themselves unemployed and therefore decide to experiment with living on a rural commune where free love is the name of the game. The movies also stars Paul Rudd and Aniston's ex-husband Justin Theroux.

We're the Millers

We've seen the star act out many roles, but who knew she'd play a stripper so well? In the film, Aniston plays Rose, a stripper who works with a drug dealer (Jason Sudeikis) and pretends to be a part of his fake family to sneak weed into the U.S. from Mexico.

Cake

This is a side of Aniston we had never seen before and she nailed it. The actress plays a woman who not only suffers from chronic pain in Cake, but is also a prescription pill addict on the verge of committing suicide. The performance went on to garner Aniston a SAG Awards nomination.

Mother's Day

Aniston plays Sandy, a divorced mom of two boys trying to deal with her husband getting remarried as one of the many stories of moms and their different struggles in Mother's Day.

Office Christmas Party

After his sister (Aniston) threatens to shut down his branch of the company, Clay (T.J. Miller) throws an epic Christmas party to try and save the company and all his employees' jobs in this 2016 holiday comedy film.

Dumplin'

In 2018, Aniston became a part of the Netflix family with Dumplin'. In the movie, she is a former beauty queen and pageant director for Miss Teen Bluebonnet, which her plus-size daughter Willowdean (Danielle Macdonald) enters as a protest against the stereotypical pageant lifestyle and its lack of diversity.

 

Murder Mystery

Aniston and Sandler team up again in this Netflix film where they play a married couple who get caught up in a hilarious whodunnit when a fellow passenger on their yacht is murdered. The film went on to get nominated at the 2019 E! People's Choice Awards for The Comedy Movie of 2019 and nabbed Aniston a nod for The Female Movie Star of 2019.