Can Aniston get her career back on track with ‘Derailed’?

With the exposure – or overexposure – of her personal life, it’s easy to forget that “Derailed” is Jennifer Aniston‘s first film since “Friends.”

Aniston, whom tabloids long ago nicknamed “America’s Sweetheart,” is starting a push for big-screen stardom with upcoming releases that also include “The Break Up,” “Rumor Has It” and “Friends with Money.”

Will all the tabloid attention interfere with audiences’ acceptance of Aniston as different characters?

“I don’t know. We’ll see,” says the 36-year-old actress. “I only can hope that I’m doing my job well enough that that won’t happen.”

Alongside Clive Owen, she plays a would-be adulterer in “Derailed” – atypically dark fare for Rachel Green.

“I’m not trying to shed any labels,” she says, but she acknowledges that difference was “a big part” of the film’s appeal.

While she says the “sweetheart” tag doesn’t bother her, it’s clearly something she’s not quite comfortable with. After all, it doesn’t exactly fit Aniston, a mostly private person with a dry sense of humor.

“Hey, you could be called a lot worse things,” she reasons.

Aniston grew up with acting around her. Her father, John, was a longtime regular on “Days of Our Lives” and owned a cabaret where she “got the bug.”

She spent a year on the cast of the short-lived sketch comedy show “The Edge” and at one point talked with NBC about joining “Saturday Night Live.”

In 1994 she landed the part of Rachel on “Friends,” which ended last year. When the series was catching on, her hairstyle became a national rage.

“But I grew that out fast. Whatever it is that they’re going to be boxing you in for, you try to bust out of it.”

Aniston did films on the side during “Friends,” including “The Object of My Affection,” “Office Space” and “Rock Star.” Her starring role in 2002’s “The Good Girl,” as a discount store clerk who strikes up an affair with a stock boy (Jake Gyllenhaal), got the most attention.

She says “The Good Girl” was “the first one where I felt like I was able to move away from what I had been known to do.”

Of course, Aniston is well-known for her 4 1/2 -year marriage to Brad Pitt. They announced their separation in January, and the divorce became final Oct. 2.

In interviews, Aniston has made it clear she will not discuss recently published photos showing her kissing her co-star in “The Break Up,” Vince Vaughn.

But she does say that the paparazzi’s hunger has gotten “really dangerous” and “twisted” to the point of “feeding into a bizarre part of our society.”

She compares the invasiveness to being robbed but knows “people don’t really have a lot of sympathy for it.”

“And I don’t blame them,” she adds.

Aniston, who says she “doesn’t have a method or anything” to her acting, will likely have “Friends” further in her rearview mirror after “Derailed” and the three other films. But that’s a bittersweet prospect to her.

“I love ‘Friends,’ ” she says. “I’m proud of it – the best thing that ever happened to me.”

The birthday bunch

Producer-director-actor Garry Marshall is 71. Actor Joe Mantegna is 58. Actress Frances Conroy (“Six Feet Under”) is 52. Actress Whoopi Goldberg is 50. Actor Chris Noth is 49. Comedian Jimmy Kimmel is 38.