Jennifer Anne Garner (born April 17, 1972) is an American film and television actress, producer.
Garner was born in Houston, Texas to Patricia Ann English (a teacher) and William Jack Garner, a chemical engineer; she is the middle child between two sisters, Melissa Garner Wiley (born in 1969) and Susannah Garner Carpenter (born in 1975). When she was four years old, her father’s job with Union Carbide forced the family to relocate to Charleston, West Virginia, where Garner lived until her college years.
In 1990, Garner graduated from George Washington High School in Charleston, West Virginia, where she played the saxophone. She also studied ballet for nine years before enrolling at Denison University to study chemical engineering. Upon realizing that she enjoyed stage acting more than science, Garner changed her major to drama. Garner graduated from Denison in 1994, and planned to continue her drama education at Yale University. However, keen for experience, she visited a friend in New York City in 1995 and decided to take her chances in theatre.
In New York City, Garner earned $150 a week as an understudy in a play. She was then cast in her first television role, a part in the made-for-television movie, Zoya, based on the Danielle Steele novel. Her next acting jobs were in two short-lived television series, Significant Others and Time of Your Life, as well as in two Hallmark Hall of Fame movies, including the 1997 film, Rose Hill, based on the best selling book For The Roses by Julie Garwood.
In 1996, she appeared on an episode of the NBC drama Law & Order. She played a college student who engaged in an affair with Detective Rey Curtis.
Subsequently, Garner moved to Los Angeles, California and got a job as a hostess at a restaurant before being cast as Hannah Bibb on the WB series, Felicity. On the set, she met her future husband, Scott Foley. Garner played his character’s girlfriend. In 2000, Garner appeared in the comedy Dude, Where’s My Car? Playing Ashton Kutcher’s girlfriend. In 2001, she appeared as a nurse in the big-budget version of Pearl Harbor, co-starring Ben Affleck and Kate Beckinsale.
Later in 2001, J. J. Abrams, who produced Felicity, approached Garner about starring in a new show he was working on for ABC. Garner auditioned and was cast in the role of Sydney Bristow in the spy drama Alias. The series became a success and Garner won the award for “Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama” at the January 2002 Golden Globes. Alias had just begun a few months beforehand, and Garner won the award with only half the season’s episodes aired. The series had a successful run since, and concluded in May 2006 during its fifth season. Garner’s salary for the show began at $45,000 an episode, and had since risen to $150,000 per episode.
During the show’s run, Garner received four consecutive Golden Globe nominations for her lead performance. She has also received four consecutive Emmy nominations for “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series”. Garner won the “Actor Award” from the Screen Actors Guild in 2005. The category had only five nominees and is composed of all actresses in any dramatic roles, both lead and supporting. In March 2005, Garner directed “In Dreams”, an Alias episode which aired in May. Garner has been receiving “producer/director” credit for the series in it’s fifth and final season.
After the initial success of Alias, Garner returned to her film career with a small role in the Steven Spielberg film Catch Me If You Can, and starred alongside Ben Affleck as Elektra Natchios in the action movie Daredevil, an adaptation of the comic book. She reprised her role as “Elektra” in the 2005 spin-off to Daredevil, entitled Elektra. Garner showed her comedic side in the romantic comedy 13 Going on 30, which was a financial success and established her as a leading feature film actress. Garner is known for performing her own stunts, and in January 2005 was forced to bow out of some publicity duties for Elektra, due to what was first thought to have been a viral infection but was revealed to be the effects of nerve damage to her back, caused by a stunt during the filming of Alias.
In 2005, Garner entered the Forbes “Power 100″ list of celebrities. Garner ranked as the 5th best paid actress in Hollywood, accumulating an estimated US $14 million over the year 2004/05. She came 8th behind Cameron Diaz in the power rankings. During the 2006 Academy Awards ceremony, Garner stumbled on her flowing dress (designed by Michael Kors) as she came onto the stage to present the award for Sound Editing. She did not fall, but lost her balance, and jokingly commented, “I do my own stunts!”
Garner’s next film will be the drama Catch and Release. She will also perform voice work for the 2006 version of Charlotte’s Web.
Garner has formed a production company named Vandalia Films, which will produce its first film in 2007. Garner will produce the company’s upcoming films.
On October 19, 2000, Garner married actor Scott Foley, who appeared with her on the television show Felicity. The two later separated and were officially divorced in 2004. Garner then dated her Alias co-star Michael Vartan until mid-2004, when she began dating her Daredevil co-star Ben Affleck.
On June 29, 2005, Garner and Affleck were married at the Parrot Cay resort on the Turks and Caicos Islands; the wedding had not been announced to the press beforehand. Around this period, Garner was pregnant with the couple’s first child. Her pregnancy was incorporated into the plot of Alias. She was rumored to be absent from several episodes that will be produced around and after the birth but the season’s number of episodes was cut by a few and given an extended hiatus in order to let Garner go on maternity leave. On December 1, 2005, she gave birth to their daughter, Violet Anne Affleck.
Garner enjoys cooking, gardening, hiking and kickboxing (a hobby inspired by her Alias character).
- Also Credited As:
Jennifer Anne Garner
- Born:
on 04/17/1972 in Houston, Texas
- Job Titles:
Actor
Family
- Daughter: Violet Affleck. born December 1, 2005 in Los Angeles, California; father, Ben Affleck
- Father: Bill Garner.
- Mother: Pat Garner. taught English
- Sister: Melissa Garner. older
- Sister: Susannah Garner. younger
Significant Others
- Companion: Michael Vartan. met while working together on “Alias”; began dating May 2003; ended relationship July 2004
- Husband: Ben Affleck. met in 2003, while working together on “Daredevil”; began dating in 2004; engaged April 2005; married Wednesday June 28, 2005, at the Parrot Cay resort in the Caribbean islands of Turks and Caicos
- Husband: Scott Foley. met while playing his love interest on “Felicity”; married on October 19, 2000; separated in April 2003
Education
- George Washington High School, Charleston, West Virginia, 1990
- Denison University, Granville, Ohio, theater, BFA, 1994
Milestones
- 1995 Had early TV credit in the NBC miniseries “Danielle Steele’s ‘Zoya’”
- 1996 Acted in the “Hallmark Hall of Fame” TV-movie presentation “Harvest of Fire” (CBS)
- 1996 Appeared in “Larry McMurtry’s Dead Man’s Walk”, an ABC miniseries marking the fourth installment of the “Lonesome Dove” saga
- 1996 Guested on an episode of the UPN police series “Swift Justice”
- 1996 Was an understudy for the Broadway revival of “A Month in the Country”, starring Helen Mirren
- 1997 Appeared in the comedy “Mister Magoo”
- 1997 Featured in Agnieszka Holland’s adaptation of Henry James’ 19th-century New York-set classic “Washington Square”
- 1997 Had a cameo in Woody Allen’s “Deconstructing Harry”
- 1997 Starred as the grown incarnation of the abandoned baby adopted by a gang of NYC street kids who head west in the turn-of-the-century-set CBS TV-movie “Rose Hill”, another presentation of the “Hallmark Hall of Fame”
- 1998 Had recurring role on “Felicity”, playing the girlfriend of Noel, the resident advisor played by her future husband Scott Foley
- 1998 Was a regular on the short-lived Fox series “Significant Others”
- 1999 Featured in the two-part CBS TV-movie thriller “Aftershock: Earthquake in New York”
- 2000 Played Ashton Kutcher’s girlfriend in “Dude, Where’s My Car?”
- 2001 Breakout role starring as student-turned-secret agent Sydney Bristow in the ABC spy series “Alias”
- 2001 Featured in the World War II epic “Pearl Harbor” as an uptight nurse
- 2002 Had a small but memorable role as a provacative model in director Steven Spielberg’s “Catch Me If You Can”
- 2003 Played the exotic and deadly Elektra opposite Ben Affleck in “Daredevil”
- 2003 Received Golden Globe and Emmy nominations for Best Actress in a Drama Series for her role on “Alias”
- 2004 Played a thirteen year old who wishes to be older and wakes up a thirty year old in the comedy “13 going on 30″
- 2004 Received SAG, Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress in a Drama Series for her role on “Alias”
- 2005 Received an Emmy nomination for Best Actress in a Drama Series for her role on “Alias”
- 2005 Reprised her role from the 2003 film “Daredevil” to star in “Elektra”
- Cast in regular role opposite Jennifer Love Hewitt in the “Party of Five” spin-off series “The Time of Your Life”
- Raised in West Virginia
- Set to star in the romantic drama “Catch and Release” with Timothy Olyphant (lensed 2005)
- Will co-produce and star in a re-make of a hit Japanese film called “Be With You” (lensed 2005)
- Will star in “Sabbatical” a thriller developed by Garner’s own production company (lensed 2006)
