Jennifer Aniston is a critically-acclaimed actress known for roles such as Rachel Green in the television show Friends and Rose O'Reilly in the comedy film We're the Millers. She is also known for a number of lead roles in romantic comedies, but she has also landed notable and successful dramatic roles such as Claire Bennett in Cake.
While she is critically acclaimed, successful, and a well-liked actress, some of her roles were part of what ended up being film and television flops. These flops have not hindered her career which is still going strong after acting for a little over thirty years. Here is a look at her five best and five worst roles, according to IMDb.
Worst: Jeannie Bueller In Ferris Bueller - 5.0
Ferris Bueller was a television show loosely based on the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off. It only acknowledges the film once and treated it as a fictionalized account of the show's version of Ferris and what he experienced on that particular day.
None of the original cast from the film reprised their roles, and Jennifer Aniston was cast to portray Ferris's sister Jeannie. The show itself depicts Ferris's day-to-day experiences in high school, and he is as cool and charismatic as the film version of the character. The show was canceled after one season.
Best: Kiki Wilson In Quantum Leap: Nowhere To Run - August 10, 1968 - 8.2
The television show Quantum Leap is about a scientist named Sam Beckett who travels to past events where he inhabits other people's bodies from that time period and works to correct the past. Jennifer Aniston guest-starred in the fourth episode of the fifth season as Kiki Wilson, who is a volunteer at a U.S. military hospital in San Diego during the Vietnam War.
Sam Beckett inhabits the body of Marine Captain Ron Miller and works to prevent the suicide and save the life of his hospital roommate, Sargeant Billy Johnson.
Worst: Tory Reding In Leprechaun - 4.8
Leprechaun is a horror slasher film about a leprechaun in search of his stolen gold and how he will take down anything and anyone he views as in his way. Aniston plays Tory Reding, the spoiled daughter of J.D., a friend of the man who originally stole the leprechaun's gold: Dan O'Grady.
Tory is not the last person to survive, or even the only person to survive, but she is the closest the film gets to having a final girl. Aniston did not reprise her role in any of the Leprechaun sequels.
Best: Alex Levy In The Morning Show - 8.2
The Morning Show is a new television show available through the streaming service Apple TV+. It follows Alex Levy (played by Aniston), the head anchor of the news program The Morning Show. It more specifically chronicles her life and career after a sexual misconduct scandal involving her boss breaks out and she struggles to keep her job as head anchor.
Aside from the high rating on IMDb, the show, in general, has been favorably reviewed by critics. The show has already been renewed for a second season and is projected to air in 2020.
Worst: Debbie In 'Til There Was You - 4.8
'Til There Was You is a romantic comedy in which Aniston had a role as the minor character Debbie. The main character Gwen is seeking the man of her dreams and hopes to have a life like Debbie, who is successful in her career and has a seemingly perfect marriage. What Gwen doesn't realize is that she has encountered the man of her dreams in passing situations throughout her life.
In spite of the main character wanting to emulate Debbie's life, Debbie does not play a significant role in the film and instead seems to be cast aside as the plot of the film progresses.
Best: Tina Herrod In Dirt: Ita Missa Est - 8.4
The television show Dirt was about Lucy Spiller, the editor-in-chief of the magazine called DirtNow which was a combination of a tabloid and glossy magazine after the merging of the two magazines dirt and Now. The show aired on FX and was canceled after two seasons.
Jennifer Aniston guest-starred in the thirteenth episode of the first season as Tina Herrod, a rival tabloid magazine editor who goes after Lucy's job. Overarching season plots such as Lucy having a stalker were also resolved in this episode. This episode was also the season finale.
Worst: Clove In The Thin Pink Line - 3.6
The Thin Pink Line is a mockumentary about the fictional Chauncey Ledbetter, a male supermodel who was convicted of murder and consequently sentenced to death. The mockumentary follows people who knew Chauncey or his alleged victim, or people who were involved in solving the case in order to uncover the truth about the murder. The mockumentary itself derives its title from the documentary The Thin Blue Line about a man also convicted of murder and placed on death row.
Aniston depicts Clove in the mockumentary and acts alongside notable 1990s and 2000s actors such as David Schwimmer, Margaret Cho, and Alexis Arquette.
Best: Mrs. Stevens In South Park: Rainforest Schmainforest - 8.5
South Park is a long-running animated comedy television show about four boys in grade school and their misadventures in the fictional town of South Park, Colorado. The show is known to utilize edgy humor and bathroom humor as a means to poke fun at society's current trends.
Jennifer Aniston guest stars in the first episode of the third season as Mrs. Stevens, a choir teacher. During the episode, the four main characters, Mrs. Stevens, and a choir full of other children get lost in a rainforest while touring Costa Rica. They encounter wild animals and native tribes as they try to find their way back to the city of San Jose, where they perform a concert.
Worst: Dancer In McDonald's In Mac And Me - 3.3
Mac and Me is a science fiction and comedy film about an alien who escapes from his captivity at NASA and befriends a boy named Eric, who uses a wheelchair. The two set out to find MAC's (short for Mysterious Alien Creature) family.
On IMDb, Mac and Me is listed as Aniston's first-ever screen acting role and she is not credited in the film. She is featured briefly in a sequence at a McDonald's in which attendees of a birthday party at the McDonald's start dancing. The film is considered one of the worst movies ever made. Perhaps it would have been better if Aniston, then a brand-new actor, was more prominently featured in the film, or, perhaps, it was better for her to get this flop out of the way early in her career and rise above it.
Best: Rachel Green In Friends - 8.9
Jennifer Aniston's highest-rated role is also the role for which she is most well-known. Friends chronicles six friends in their 20s and 30s living in New York City as they navigate careers, relationships, and family. Aniston plays Rachel Green, who started out as a spoiled trust-fund kid who, within the first episode, leaves her spoiled life behind in pursuit to find herself and make a career in fashion on her own, which she does.
Rachel had an on-again, off-again relationship with Ross Geller, another main character in the show, which is one of the most iconic relationships in the show, and possibly television history.