Jennifer Garner Biography

Famous for her role as sexy CIA double agent Sydney Bistrow on ABC’s spy drama, Alias, Jennifer Garner has been professionally acting since 1995. She began acting on Broadway shortly after she graduated from Ohio’s Denison University in 1994. Garner originally majored in chemistry, but discovered she liked acting more so she changed her major to drama. She even had plans to continue studying drama education at Yale University. But it seems that she wanted hands on experience more than theatrical knowledge, and in 1995 she moved to New York City to take her chances in theater.

It wasn’t long before Garner landed an understudy role in the Broadway production of A Month in the Country. Garner earned $150 a week as an understudy in that play. Later, in 1995, she made her screen debut with the small role of Sasha in the made-for-television movie Zoya, based on the Danielle Steele novel.

Garner then landed acting jobs with two short-lived television series, Significant Other and Time of Your Life. She had a guest appearance in 1996 on the NBC drama, Law and Order and in 1997 she performed in the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, Rose Hill. In 1998 she was cast in a leading role on the FOX drama series, Significant Others.

Significant Others didn’t do very well and was pulled off air after only a month. Garner moved to Los Angeles, California, and got a job as a hostess in a restaurant before winning the job as Hannah Bibb on the WB series, Felicity.

On the set of Felicity, Garner met her future husband, actor Scott Foley. The two married in 2000 but divorced four years later in March 2004.

In 1999 Garner appeared in the television series, The Pretender. She then landed a leading role in the Jennifer Love Hewitt Party of Five spin-off, Time of Your Life, but the show did not last very long.

In 2000 Garner played Ashton Kutcher’s girlfriend in the comedy Dude, Where’s My Car. The following year she appeared as a nurse in the big-screen epic, Pearl Harbor and also landed her role on Alias. In 2002 she won the Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Drama for her acting skills on the show.

Other movies Garner has appeared in include Catch Me if You Can in 2002, with Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, and Christopher Walken; Daredevil in 2003, with Ben Affleck and Colin Farrell; 13 Going on 30 in 2004, with Mark Ruffalo; and Elektra in 2005. She also did the voice work for the 2006 version of Charlotte’s Web.

Garner was named the number one sexiest woman of 2001 by Maxim magazine. In May of 2002 she was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful People by People magazine and in 2005 she was on the Forbes Power 100 list of celebrities. She ranked as the fifth highest paid Hollywood actress for 2004 and 2005 with an annual income of $14 million.

Garner was born as Jennifer Anne Garner on April 17, 1972, in Houston, Texas . She has two sisters: Melissa Garner Wiley and Susannah Garner Carpenter.

Garner married Ben Affleck on June 29, 2005, at the Parrot Cay resort in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Garner gave birth to their first child, a girl named Violet Anne Affleck, on December 1, 2005. Waiting another four years, while pursuing their careers, the couple decided to have another child and on January 5th 2009 Ben and Jen welcomed another baby girl into the world.