Matinee Classics - Jennifer Garner Biography & Filmography

Jennifer Garner ACTOR

PHOTOS

JENNIFER GARNER BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Jennifer Garner was born on April 17th, 1972 in Houston, Texas with the middle name Anne, born to pat and Bill Garner. She was raised in Charleston, West Virginia and has two sisters.

As a young girl she studied ballet and after graduating from George Washington High School, Garner went on to study at Denison University where she first majored in chemistry, however, later chose to switch her major to drama and graduated in 1994. Some of her earlier stage roles were in such Shakespeare plays as, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "The Merchant of Venice", both in 1994.

Upon earning a degree she relocated to New York City and found work as a hostess to support herself while trying to break into a career as a stage actress. It was in New York where she received her first television role in a made for television movie called, "Zoya" (1995) starring Melissa Gilbert, Bruce Boxleitner and Denise Alexander.

It did not take too long before she began working on roles on such television series as, "Swift Justice" (1996), "Dead Man's Walk" (1996), "Law & Order" (1996) and "Spin City" (1996).

Now with some stage and television experience on her resume she was cast in her first film, "Dude, Where's My Car?" (2001) starring Ashton Kutcher and Seann William Scott. Succeeding her first film were more successful film roles in such features as, "Pearl Harbor" (2001) featuring a large ensemble cast including Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Alec Baldwin, Jon Voight, Kate Beckinsale, Cuba Gooding Jr., Dan Aykroyd, Colm Feore, Mako, Tom Sizemore and Jaime King, "Catch Me if You Can" (2002) starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks along with Christopher Walken, Amy Adams, Martin Sheen, and Nathalie Baye, "Daredevil" (2003) starring with Ben Affleck, Colin Farrell and Michael Clarke Duncan, "13 Going on 30" (2004) co-starring Judy Greer, Mark Ruffalo, Andy Serkis and Kathy Baker and "Electra" (2005) along with Terence Stamp.

She was now making quite a name for herself in Hollywood and was offered the opportunity to work a recurring role on a new television series, "Alias" (2001-2006). This role was quite different from what she was used to portraying in Hollywood. Garner had to take on the tough girl role and with no training in any gymnastics or martial arts to secure this role, she enrolled in Taekwondo to make sure she would nail the audition.

Garner secured the part and even earned a Golden Globe Award in 2002 for, "Best Actress in a Television Series" along with for more consecutive Golden Globe nominations as well as a number of Emmy nominations. Then in 2005, she was awarded the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series.

Due to the huge success of this series, Garner was now an actress that was looked very highly upon. She continued to take on new and challenging film roles such as, "Catch and Release" (2006), "The Kingdom" (2007) also starring Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper, Jason Bateman, Ashraf Barhom, with Kyle Chandler, Jeremy Piven, Richard Jenkins and Ali Suliman and "Juno" (2007) co-starring Michael Cera, Olivia Thirlby, J. K. Simmons, Allison Janney and Jason Bateman.

In addition to her film and television roles she returned to stage acting and had her Broadway debut in 2007 in a production of, "Cyrano de Bergerac". Some of her latest roles have been on the films, "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" (2009) starring with Michael Douglas, Matthew McConaughey, Robert Forster, Anne Archer, Breckin Meyer, Emma Stone and Lacey Chabert, "Valentine's Day" (2010) starring alongside Jessica Alba, Kathy Bates, Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper, Patrick Dempsey, Hector Elizondo, Jamie Foxx, "Arthur" (2010) with Russell Brand in the title role, with Helen Mirren, Greta Gerwig and Nick Nolte, "Butter" (2011) also starring Alicia Silverstone, Hugh Jackman, Yara Shahidi, Ashley Greene and Olivia Wilde and soon to release in 2012 the Walt Disney film, "The Odd Life of Timothy Green" and "Back Roads".

She has married twice throughout her lifetime. Her first marriage was to Scott Foley in 2000 however by 2004 this marriage came to an end. She then married Ben Affleck in 2005 and they have three children, two daughters and a son, and remain married today.

Jennifer Garner has received a number of other honors besides her Emmy's and Golden Globe Awards and nominations. People's Magazine placed her in 2001 on their, "Breakthrough Stars" list and Maxim Magazine placed Garner in the top 100 list in 2002. In 2006 she won the People's Choice Award for Best Female TV Star for her role in, "Alias" and then in 2005 she won "Best Female Action Star" for her role in the film, "Elektra".