Becoming ... Jennifer Aniston

Though she bid a tearful adieu to Friends, Jennifer Aniston has plenty to smile about. The actress says she's looking forward to her next project: starting a family. See the defining moments in the life of PEOPLE's Most Beautiful cover girl. By Serena Kappes

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WHAT A SCREAM

In her first movie role, Aniston played a rich girl who battles an evil elf in the low-budget 1993 horror flick Leprechaun. Of her early dry days as an actress, she joked to PEOPLE in 1997, "I was such a loser."