|
|
Jennifer Anne Garner (born April 17,
1972) is a Golden Globe Award- and SAG Award-winning and
Emmy Award-nominated American film and television
actress, and producer. She first became known for her
role as Sydney Bristow on Alias, a CIA agent.
Early life: Garner was born in Houston, Texas, to
Patricia Ann English, a teacher, and Billy Jack Garner,
a chemical engineer who worked for Union Carbide; she is
the middle child between two sisters, Melissa Garner
Wylie and Susannah Garner Carpenter. Her family is
Methodist. At three years old, Garner began taking
ballet lessons which she continued throughout her youth.
Although she admitted that she loved
dancing, she never had ambitions to become a classical
ballerina. When she was four years old, her father's job
with Union Carbide relocated her family to Princeton,
West Virginia, then to Charleston, West Virginia, where
Garner resided until her college years.
In 1990, Garner graduated from George Washington High
School in Charleston, where she played the saxophone.
She then enrolled at Denison University to study
chemistry. Upon realizing that she enjoyed stage acting
more than science, Garner changed her major to drama.
While at Denison, Garner was initiated into the sorority
Pi Beta Phi. Garner graduated from Denison in 1994 and
hoped 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.
Career: 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
Steel novel. Her next acting jobs were in two
short-lived television series, Significant Others and
Time of Your Life, and a recurring role in the series
Felicity. 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 epic Pearl Harbor,
co-starring with Kate Beckinsale and Garner's future
husband Ben Affleck .
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 for 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 was successful, concluding in
May 2006 after a fifth, abbreviated season (due to
Garner's pregnancy, a development that was written into
the storyline of the fifth season). Garner's salary for
the show began at $45,000 an episode, rising to $150,000
per episode by the series' end. During the show's run,
Garner received four consecutive Golden Globe
nominations for her lead performance. She 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. In March 2005, Garner directed the fourth-season
Alias episode, "In Dreams," which aired in
May. Garner received producer credit during the series'
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 the fourth season of Alias.
Garner entered the Forbes' "Power 100" list of
celebrities in 2005 at 70th place. From June 2004 to
June 2005, she earned an estimated US $14 million.
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 current film is the romantic comedy Catch and
Release. Garner has formed a production company named
Vandalia Films, which will produce its first film in
2007. She will produce the company's upcoming films
Sabbatical and Be with You. Garner takes her first role
as part of an ensemble in The Kingdom alongside Jamie
Foxx and Jason Bateman. Box office analysts have
commented the choice was smart on Garner's part, as her
other projects with her as the sole lead are risky
gambles. Garner was set to star in Zach Braff's
directorial feature of Open Hearts but backed out of the
project so she could spend more time with her family.
It has been reported by Entertainment Tonight and other
media outlets that Garner has been cast to appear in the
Jason Reitman-directed comedy/drama feature Juno, which
begins filming in February 2007 in Vancouver, British
Columbia.
Personal life: On October 19, 2000, Garner
married actor Scott Foley, whom she met on the set of
Felicity in 1998. After separating from Foley in March
2003, Garner filed for divorce in May 2003, citing
irreconcilable differences. Dismissing rumors of
infidelity, Foley stated that the reason behind their
separation was Garner's increasing fame after the
success of Alias. Similarly, Garner claimed that their
Hollywood lifestyle led to their failed marriage and
they "really were victims of Hollywood." The
two were officially divorced in March 30, 2004.
Garner is known for being private about her personal
life. This is reflected in her relationships with
Michael Vartan and Ben Affleck. Over the course of her
relationship with her Alias co-star Michael Vartan, she
never made any public appearances with him and was late
to confirm their relationship in August 2003. Garner
began dating Vartan in mid-2003, and though rumors of
their break-up began in March 2004, Garner only
confirmed the end of their relationship in August 2004.
However, they continue to be close friends.
Garner's relationship with her Daredevil co-star Ben
Affleck was also very low-key, which started in July
2004. It was months into their relationship before a
paparazzo managed to take a shot of these two as a
couple. Both stars' publicists denied their relationship
until a public appearance at a Boston Red Sox game. When
there were rumours of Garner being pregnant, there were
repeated denials of the pregnancy. On Garner's 33rd
birthday, Affleck proposed to her with a 4.5 carat (900
mg) diamond ring from Harry Winston and the couple
married on June 29, 2005 in a surprise ceremony at the
Parrot Cay resort on the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Finally, their publicists confirmed the
marriage and pregnancy. At the time, Garner was pregnant
with the couple's first child. Officiating at the
ceremony was her Alias co-star Victor Garber. Her
pregnancy was incorporated into the plot of Alias, with
the season's episode order reduced from the initial 22
to 17 in order to let Garner go on maternity leave. On
December 1, 2005 at 3:26 p.m. PST, she gave birth to
their daughter, Violet Anne Affleck. They currently
divide their time between Santa Monica, California and
Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Garner enjoys cooking, gardening, hiking and kickboxing
(a hobby picked up during training for her Alias
character). She is close friends with Reese Witherspoon
and also close to actress Jean Louisa Kelly, who
interviewed Garner for the June 2005 issue of Self
magazine. |
Snoron Celebrities and Models Wallpapers 
