Jennifer Garner Life Story

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Jennifer Anne Garner (born on April 17, 1972) is an American film and television actress. Garner was born in Houston, Texas to Patricia Ann English (a teacher) and Billy Jack Garner, a chemical engineer; she is the middle child between two sisters, Melissa and Suzanna. When she was three years old, her father’s job with Union Carbide forced the family to relocate to Charleston, West Virginia, where Garner lived until her college years.

In 1990, Garner graduated from George Washington High School in Charleston, West Virginia, where she played the saxophone. She also studied ballet for nine years before enrolling at Denison University to study chemical engineering. Upon realizing that she enjoyed stage acting more than science, Garner changed her major to drama. Garner graduated in 1994, and planned 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.

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 Steele novel. Her next acting jobs were in two short-lived television series, Significant Others and Time of Your Life, as well as in two Hallmark Hall of Fame movies, including the 1997 film, “Rose Hill”, based on the best selling book “For The Roses” by Julie Garwood.

Subsequently, Garner moved to Los Angeles, California and got a job as a hostess at a restaurant before being cast as Hannah Bibb on the WB series, Felicity. On the set, she met her future husband, Scott Foley. Garner played his character’s girlfriend. In 2000, 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 version of Pearl Harbor, co-starring Ben Affleck and Kate Beckinsale.

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 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 had a successful run since, and will conclude after the end of its fifth season.

During the show’s run, Garner received four consecutive Golden Globe nominations for her lead performance. She has 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. The category had only five nominees and is composed of all actresses in any dramatic roles, both lead and supporting. In March 2005, Garner directed “In Dreams”, an “Alias” episode which aired in May. Garner has been receiving “producer/director” credit for the series since the show’s fifth 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 Alias.

In 2005, Garner entered the Forbes “Power 100″ list of celebrities. Garner ranked as the 5th best paid actress in Hollywood, accumulating an estimated US $14 million over the year 2004/05. She came 8th behind Cameron Diaz in the power rankings.

Garner’s next film will be the drama Catch and Release. She will also perform voice work for the 2006 version of Charlotte’s Web. Garner has formed a production company named Vandalia Films, which will produce its first film in 2007. Garner will produce the company’s upcoming films.

Private life: On October 19, 2000, Garner married actor Scott Foley, who appeared with her on the television show Felicity. The two later separated and were officially divorced in 2004. Garner then dated her Alias co-star Michael Vartan until mid-2004, when she began dating her Daredevil co-star Ben Affleck.

On June 29, 2005, Garner and Affleck were married at the Parrot Cay resort on the Caribbean Islands of Turks and Caicos; the wedding had not been announced to the press beforehand. Around this period, Garner was pregnant with the couple’s first child. Her pregnancy was incorporated into the plot of “Alias”.

She will be absent from several episodes that will be produced around and after the birth; as a result, the series added a new leading character to the series, who will be the center of the plot while Garner is unavailable. On December 1, 2005, she gave birth to their child, daughter Violet Anne Affleck. Garner enjoys cooking, gardening, hiking and kickboxing (a hobby inspired by her “Alias” character).

Sometime in early to mid 2004, Garner started dating Ben Affleck and the two made their first public appearance as a couple by attending the Boston Red Sox’s opening World Series games in October of 2004. Since her relationship with Affleck, first as girlfriend and then as wife, Garner has been a tabloid staple. “Ben taught me that you cannot read that stuff, that it’s poison,” she said in 2009. On Garner’s 33rd birthday, while she was pregnant with his child, Affleck proposed to her with a 4.5 carats (900 mg) diamond ring from Harry Winston.

Affleck married Garner, who was three months pregnant at the time, on June 29, 2005 in a private ceremony, officiated by family friend Victor Garber, at the Parrot Cay resort on the Turks and Caicos Islands. On December 1, 2005, Garner gave birth to their first daughter, Violet Anne Affleck. The couple’s second child, Seraphina Rose Elizabeth Affleck, was born on January 6, 2009.

Garner had been stalked since 2002 by a man, Steven Burky, who was eventually arrested in December 2009, after violating a 2008 restraining order against her. Burky was charged with two counts of stalking, to which he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity; in March 2010, he was ruled insane and sent to the California state mental hospital with a court order to stay away from the Affleck family for 10 years if released from the hospital.

Garner enjoys cooking and gardening. She has a yellow Labrador Retriever named “Martha Stewart” (after the television personality of the same name), which appeared with her on the television show Martha on January 24, 2007. In December 2007, Garner was named The Charleston Sunday Gazette-Mail’s 2007 West Virginian of the Year “for her dedication, work ethic and unique role as role model and ambassador for West Virginia.”