Jennifer Aniston

Who are Jennifer Aniston parents?

John Aniston (father)

Date of birth: July 24, 1933

Date of death: November 11, 2022

Jennifer’s dad, the actor John Aniston, passed away at the age of 89. His departure left a void in the heart of an actress. Jen, who writes about her relatives very rarely on Instagram, didn’t restrain and left the post in which she revealed her true feelings on her father’s death. The actress confessed, that her daddy was the most beautiful person she had ever known and thanked him for everything.

Even the most devoted Jennifer’s fans may not know that the Friends superstar has Greek roots from her father’s side.

Her dad’s birthname was Yannis Anitios Anastasakis. He was born in the family of Stella and Antonios John Anastassakis in Chania, Crete, Greece. He has three siblings: Gustau, Mary, and Helen. His family changed their surname to “Aniston” after moving to the USA.

John Aniston was just 18 months old when his parents moved him from Greece to the USA. His father Antonios opened several oil businesses here.  John performed in several plays as a high school pupil. He liked it very much, that’s why he decided to study Theater Art at college. His parents didn’t like that idea at first. But later they supported him.

John Aniston had a long career as a soap opera actor. His most famous role is the successful and manipulative Victor Kiriakis in the show “Days of Our Lives”, which he played from 1985 till his death in 2022. But the actor’s favorite screen work (as he told in one of his interviews) was a Shiloh Ranch worker Frank West from the Western TV series “The Virginian”.

John separated from Jen’s mother Nancy, when their daughter was just 9 years old. Still, he remained a part of Jennifer’s life. Little Jen spent a lot of time with her father and godfather, an actor Telly Savalas. She was bitten by the acting bug and decided to go to the Performing Arts High School in New York. Her father supported her but warned that this was a very difficult profession and just 5% of actors became commercially successful.

After Aniston had been catapulted to stardom as Rachel from “Friends”, her father admitted, that she was right in her career choice.

Jennifer and her father were closely knitted not just with John, but also with Sherry Rooney, his second wife, and her younger paternal half-brother Alex.

Nancy Dow (mother)

Date of birth: July 22, 1936

Date of death: May 25, 2016

Jen’s mother was named Nancy Dow, the former actress and model. It’s not a secret for Jennifer’s fans, that the actress had complicated relationships with her mother. In her interview, the Friends star said that Nancy was extremely beautiful and elegant, and she expected from her daughter the same level of self-presentation. At the same time, Jennifer was beautiful more in the “girl-next-door” way. Mother and daughter didn’t stay in touch for a decade after Nancy had released the memoir book “From Mother and Daughter to Friends”, where she shared some intimate details of her Jen’s life and career beginnings.

Jennifer didn’t like that book and accused her mother of capitalizing on her fame, which the release of “Friends” brought her. They were estranged over a decade. Nancy wasn’t even present and Jennifer and Brad Pitt’s wedding ceremony. They kept warm relationships till Dow’s death.

Jennifer’s mother was raised in the family of Louise and Gordon Dow. Nancy was a popular actress, known for such roles as Athena from the series “The Beverly Hillbillies”, Tersa from “The Wild Wild West” and some others.

Dow was married to the musician Jack Mellick in 1956-1961. They had a son John together. By the way, Nancy was very close with John’s daughter Eilish. After Nancy’s death, her granddaughter devoted a very sweet post to her, where she called Dow “her therapist, her teacher, and her friend”.

In 1965-1981 Nancy was married to John Aniston, the father of our heroine. Although Jennifer told in her numerous interviews that she reconciled with her mother, Nancy wrote out the actress from her will.

Jennifer Aniston siblings

John Melick (older maternal half-brother)

Date of birth: June 6, 1959

Jennifer Aniston doesn’t have any full siblings as she was the only daughter of her parents. But she has two half-brothers – from her maternal and paternal sides.

Her older half-brother is John Tunis Melick. He shares the common mother Nancy with Jennifer. John is the product of a marriage between Dow and her first husband Jack Melick. Jack, who passed away in June 2021, was a talented pianist, widely known as the leader of “Big Band”. From the paternal side, John has older half-sisters – Andrea Cockrell and Mandy Wise.

Melick is also busy in the movie industry. Since 1990, he has been making his living as an assistant director. His first famous project was the science fiction “Alienator”. His resume also includes such movies as “Universal Soldier”, “Rock Star”, “Thirteen” and others.

In 1995 John tied a knot with Shannon Darlene Ladd. They welcomed two children together, son John T. Melick IV and daughter Eilish. In 2021 Shannon filed for divorce from John.

Eilish and her husband Sean Nebbia have already become parents of two kids.

Alex Aniston (younger paternal half-brother)

Date of birth: August, 1989

Jennifer mentioned her older half-brother several times in public. But the actress has never told a single word about her younger brother, Alex.

Alexander John Aniston is the son of Jen’s father and his second wife Sherry Rooney, also an actress. The young man was 14 when he went into the limelight as Jennifer’s guest at the premiere of her movie “Along Came Polly”.

Since then Alex has stayed out of the limelight. He leads a nomadic lifestyle and avoids talking about his famous sister. Alex is a father of two kids, Kira and Ryan.

As Jen has never mentioned her paternal half-brother in public, it seems, they are not close.