Jennifer Garner

Who is Jennifer Garner?

Jennifer Anne Garner (born April 17, 1972) is an Emmy-nominated and Golden Globe- and SAG Award-winning American actress. She is best known for her role as CIA agent Sydney Bristow on TV's Alias. Garner was born in Texas, the daughter of Patricia Ann (ne English), an English teacher from Oklahoma, and Billy Jack Garner, a chemical engineer who worked for Union Carbide from Texas. She is the middle child between two sisters, Melissa Garner Wylie (born 1969, resides in Boston, Massachusetts) and Susannah Kay Garner Carpenter (born January 24, 1975 in West Virginia, resides in Charleston, West Virginia). 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. Garner and her sisters had a very strict home life as children. They were expected to attend church every Sunday, were not allowed to go to movies or wear make-up, and had to wait until they reached the age of 16 before they were allowed to have their ears pierced. Although Susannah broke the rules and had her ears pierced before she was 16, and Melissa had hers pierced at 16, Jennifer did not have her ears pierced until the age of 27. In 1990, Garner graduated from George Washington High School in Charleston, where she played the saxophone. She then enroled 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 continued her drama education at the National Theater Institute where she was trained by fight choreographer David Chandler, and told she was a natural in stage combat. Keen for immediate experience, she visited her friend, Clayton Kirlew, in New York City in 1995 and decided to take her chances in New York 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 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. In 1999, Garner was cast in one of the leading roles in the television movie, Aftershock: Earthquake in New York. For this role, she was required to have her ears pierced for the first time ever. However, once filming was completed, she then allowed the piercings to heal up again and could only wear clip-on earrings. She also appeared in the 2000 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 her 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 Award|Emmy nominations for "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama...