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The West Virginia Encyclopedia
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The West Virginia Encyclopedia
Actress Jennifer Anne Garner, born in Houston, Texas, on April 17, 1972, grew up in Charleston. She showed an early interest in the arts, dancing as a child with the Appalachian Youth Jazz-Ballet Company and appearing in plays staged by the Children’s Theatre of Charleston and the Charleston Light Opera Guild.
Graduating from Charleston’s George Washington High School in 1990, Garner attended Denison University. In 1995, she moved to New York City, where she secured a part as an understudy in a Broadway production of A Month in the Country. She had a starring role in the television series Bone Chillers and guest roles on numerous television shows, including Spin City and Law and Order. She had a recurring guest spot on Felicity, where she met her first husband, actor Scott Foley. Garner had minor roles in films including Deconstructing Harry, In Harm’s Way, Mr. Magoo, Pearl Harbor, and Dude, Where’s My Car?.
Garner was catapulted into stardom in 2001 with her lead role on the television series Alias, in which she played a college graduate recruited by the CIA. Garner won a Golden Globe for her role in Alias. She appeared with Leonardo DiCaprio in Catch Me if You Can in 2002 and starred with Ben Affleck in Daredevil in 2003. Some of her other movies include Juno (2007), The Invention of Lying (2009), Arthur (2011), The Odd Life of Timothy Green (2012), Dallas Buyers Club (2013), Draft Day (2014), Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (2014), Men, Women & Children (2014), Danny Collins (2015), Miracles from Heaven (2016), The Tribes of Palos Verdes (2017), A Happening of Monumental Proportions (2017), Love, Simon (2018), and The Adam Project (2022).
She also starred opposite actor Kevin Kline in a Broadway production of Cyrano de Bergerac in 2007. In 2023, she was the executive producer and star of The Last Thing He Told Me, a limited drama series on Apple TV+.
Garner was married to Foley from 2000 to 2003. She and actor Ben Affleck were married from 2005 to 2018; they have three children.
Garner serves as the artist ambassador for Save the Children, an organization that aims to improve the lives of children through educational and nutritional programs. In 2018, she co-founded Once Upon a Farm, a fresh baby-food company.