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Jennifer Garner was born in Houston,
TX, in 1972; when she was very young, her family relocated to Charleston, WV, where she grew up. Garner was the second of three daughters, and early on developed an interest in ballet. After graduating from
George Washington High
School in Charleston, Garner
attended Denison University in Granville, OH, where she became interested
in drama, and eventually received a degree in theater. After college, Garner moved to New York
and began auditioning for stage roles, landing her first part only a month after arriving in town in 1995 as an understudy
in the Broadway production of A Month in the Country. Later that same year, Garner
moved to Los Angeles, and began working in television, making
her screen debut in the made-for-TV movie Zoya. Over the next two years, Garner landed guest roles on several television shows, including Spin City and Law and Order, and small
parts in several motion pictures, among them Deconstructing Harry, In Harm's Way, and Mr. Magoo.
1998 found Garner
cast as the female lead on the short-lived Fox drama Significant Others, and while the show only aired for a
little over a month, Garner fared much better with a showy recurring role
on Felicity, where she played Hannah, the former girlfriend
of Noel Crane, played by Scott Foley. Though Garner claims she had to go through
five rounds of auditions before she was given the role, she certainly made an impression on co-star Foley; they soon began dating, and were married in the fall of 2000. Garner's
work on Felicity helped win her a major supporting role on the television series Time of Your Life, a spin-off of Party of Five starring Jennifer Love Hewitt. The heavily promoted series was a ratings disappointment, but Garner received enthusiastic notices, and began winning film roles in high-profile projects such as Pearl Harbor and Dude, Where's My Car?
In 2000, J.J. Abrams,
who produced Felicity, was preparing a new series for ABC about a
female CIA agent living a triple life as a spy posing as a college student, who is posing as a bank employee. Abrams remembered Garner's impressive performance as Hannah, and cast her as Sydney Bristow in Alias. The show quickly became a success, earning respectable ratings, strong reviews, and a devoted
fan following who tuned in each week to see Garner beat up bad guys and don
an impressive collection of slinky outfits. That same year, Garner also appeared
opposite her husband, Foley, in a supporting role in the independent drama Rennie's Landing.
Riding high on the success of Alias with a Golden Globe Award in hand, Garner continued
to grow as a big-screen presence. After a memorable role in Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can, Garner displayed the butt-kicking skills she
honed on Alias, appearing as Elektra in the 2003 comic-book
adaptation Daredevil. The next year, she took on her first starring role, playing an adolescent girl who wakes up
to suddenly find herself all grown up in the romantic comedy 13 Going On 30.
While continuing to star on Alias, Garner next geared up to star in her own Daredevil spin-off film, appropriately called Elektra.
~ All Movie Guide
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Alias Season Four Info:
Alias Season Four Wins By a Nose: Jennifer Garner revealed that the fourth season
of Alias will take Syndey Bristow into Nicole Kidman/The Hours territory. “My makeup artist, Deborah LaMia
Denaver, gave me a fake nose and we haven’t done a lot of prosthetics work on me before, so that was really neat. I
showed a picture to my mom and she said, ‘Is this you?’ And I said yeah. And she said, ‘I know it’s
you, but you look funny. What is it?’ And you can’t tell what it is. It’s so subtle. But that was fun.”
Season Four's Wardrobe: Alias always puts Jennifer Garner in crazy, sexy
costumes and season four will have its share. Garner mentioned outfits for a bad catholic schoolgirl, a ski bunny and the
requisite lingerie. “I think Laura Goldsmith, who’s our wardrobe designer is just incredible,” Garner praised.
“I love everything that woman does.”
Lauren Reed is Dead: Ever since the third season finale of Alias, I have
been convinced that Lauren Reed (Melissa George) is still out there. We never saw her body, and she only got shot in the chest.
Jennifer Garner set me straight. “I’m pretty sure she’s dead,” she said. Nothing confirmed or denied,
but “I have advanced information that I can’t disclose at this time.”
Sister Bristow: Jennifer Garner’s favorite part of Alias Season
Four is working with Mia Maestro as Sydney Bristow’s half sister, Nadia. “I love for Sydney that she has a sister
first of all,” Garner said. “I have two sisters. I’m really, really close to them. They’re the central
relationships in my life and so I love for Sydney that she has that because it gives her a comrade, a partner, somebody to
laugh with, somebody to be goofy with which then means that when there’s tension, it’s that much more playable
and fun to do.”
Alias creator J.J. Abrams has a good track record so far with pairing Garner up with female costars.
“J.J. has just done me right with the women he’s brought on the show,” she continued. “I loved Lena
and then I loved Melissa and now I have Mia and each one brings something different to the year. Melissa and I still talk
all the time and Lena I still adore and Mia, I just feel like, ‘Well, of course he would plop this fantastic girl on
my lap.’ It’s just so much fun. We just have such a great time.”
J.J. Abrams on Alias Season Four
October 22, 2004
TV Guide talked to Alias creator J.J. Abrams, who recently launched ABC's Lost and will helm Mission: Impossible 3, and asked him what we can expect in the Jennifer Garner spy series next season. Here's several highlights from the interview:
TV Guide Online: Many fans were thrilled when Vaughn (Michael Vartan) shot his wicked wife Lauren (Melissa George) in last May's
finale. Is she really dead?
J.J. Abrams: Melissa is not coming back at the moment. I know some fans were frustrated,
but I'm ultimately proud of last year. I'm being optimistic here, but I think Season 3 will actually improve, in retrospect,
because we'll see where it went. The stories we're telling now use the best of last year to build the foundation of what happens
now.
TVGO: So where does the show go next?
Abrams: I think one of the biggest mistakes I made last year
was to let story and plot dictate episodes rather than have our characters run the show. There was no more Sydney as a real,
normal person. [This season] we'll get a sense of her as a person, not just a suit. Part of it will be through her relationship
with Vaughn, part of it will be seeing her at home, part of it will be through her relationship with her sister, played by
Mia Maestro. She will be a regular this season.
TVGO: The mysterious info Sydney found in that Wittenberg bank
will undoubtedly strain her relationship with Dad.
Abrams: That cliff-hanger figures prominently in the two-hour premiere.
By the end of it, you will know what Jack did and what the ramifications are.
Why are Jack and Sydney so dysfunctional as a family?
As with any other family "under orders to lie to one another," the iciness between father and daughter has
origins in Jack's emotional unavailability throughout Sydney's life.
Mostly, this is to do with Jack having led a life
of deception long before Sydney would learn the truth. She grew up to view her father as an unyielding man of independent
mind, with an igloo-like exterior; the ice wall had taken form long before they could begin to discuss their commonalities,
or identify any professional likenesses.
There are numerous references to times in Sydney's childhood when she believed
her father to be away on international business with Jennings Aerospace — in one case, for 6 months straight. But very
recently, Sloane revealed to her that this was a period during which Jack was in solitary confinement in a federal penitentiary,
following the FBI's investigation into collusion with his wife Laura Bristow and her KGB ties. Although his record was cleared
later, it resulted in a breakdown and a period of heavy drinking.
Watch Alias
Wednesday’s at 8:00pm on ABC
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