Jennifer Anne Garner was born on April 17, 1972 in Houston, Texas. She is an American film and television actress.

Jennifer Garner was born to Patricia English, a teacher, and Bill Garner, a chemical engineer, whose job with Union Carbide forced the family to relocate to Charleston, West Virginia when she was three years old, where she remained until college. She is the middle child in between two sisters, Melissa and Suzanna.

Garner graduated from George Washington High School in Charleston, West Virginia in 1990, where she played the saxophone [1]. She also studied ballet for nine years before enrolling at Denison University to study chemical engineering. Upon the realization that she loved the stage more than science, she changed her major to drama. Graduating in 1994, it was thought that Garner would continue her drama education at Yale. Instead, keen for experience, she visited a friend in New York City in 1995 and decided to take her chances in theatre.[2]

In NYC, Garner earned $150 a week as an understudy in a play. She then landed her first television role in the made-for-TV movie of the Danielle Steel book, Zoya. Her next acting jobs were in two Hallmark Hall of Fame movies and two short-lived TV series', Significant Others and Time of Your Life.

Garner later moved to Los Angeles, California and got a job as a hostess at a restaurant before getting a breakthrough in late 1998: the part of Hannah Bibb on the WB series, Felicity. On the set she met her future husband, Scott Foley. She played his character's girlfriend. In 2000, Garner starred in the comedy Dude, Where's My Car?, playing Ashton Kutcher's girlfriend and in 2001 she starred as a nurse in the big-budget Pearl Harbour, co-starring Ben Affleck and Kate Beckinsale.

Then J.J. Abrams, who produced Felicity, approached Garner about a new show he was working on for ABC. Garner auditioned and landed the role of Sydney Bristow in the spy drama Alias. It was a success and at the January 2002 Golden Globes, she won for Best Actress in a Television Series Drama. Alias had just begun a few months beforehand, meaning Garner beat the other nominees even though only half the season (roughly 11 or 12 episodes) had aired. She has since received four consecutive Golden Globe nominations. In March 2005, Garner directed the episode "In Dreams", which aired in May and for the fifth season she has been promoted to the writer/producer level. Alias is set to end in May 2006 after five seasons.

Besides Alias, Garner had a small role in the Steven Spielberg film Catch Me If You Can, and starred alongside Ben Affleck in the action movie Daredevil, an adaptation of the comic book as Elektra Natchios. She also starred as Elektra in the 2005 spin-off to Daredevil, entitled Elektra. Garner also showed her comedic side in the romantic comedy 13 Going on 30. Currently she has done the upcoming drama Catch and Release and voice work for the 2006 version of Charlotte's Web.

Her production company, Vandalia Films will produce its first film in 2007; a remake of a Japanese Mystery Romance titled "Ima, ai ni yukimasu" roughly translated to "Be With You". She will produce alongside American Beauty producers Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen. Garner is set to star in the remake.

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 is known for performing her own stunts, and in January 2005 she was forced to bow out of some publicity duties for her film Elektra due to what was first thought to have been a viral infection. Media reports indicated that she was in fact suffering the effects of nerve damage to her back, caused by a stunt during the filming of Alias.
She has received four consecutive Emmy (the most prestigous American television acting award) nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. During her first nomination in 2002, she was expected by many people to win but lost out to The West Wing's Allison Janney. The year of her second nomination, she lost to Edie Falco for her powerful performance in The Sopranos. For Garner's third nomination, she again lost out to Janney. The most recent nomination in 2005 was not met with a win as Medium's Patricia Arquette won.
She 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.
Garner enjoys cooking, gardening, hiking and kickboxing (a hobby inspired by her character on Alias).

Interestingly, all of Garner's recent personal relationships have been with her on-screen love interests. On October 19, 2000, she married Scott Foley, who acted with her on the television show Felicity. The two later separated and were officially divorced in 2004. She then dated her Alias co-star Michael Vartan until mid-2004, when she started dating her Daredevil co-star Ben Affleck.

On June 29, 2005, Garner and Affleck were married in a surprise ceremony at the Parrot Cay resort on the Caribbean Islands of Turks and Caicos. On December 1, 2005, she gave birth to their first child, daughter Violet Anne Affleck.

Her pregnancy was incorporated into her hit show Alias. Garner is expected to be absent from several episodes that will be produced around and after the birth; as a result, the series added a new, Sydney Bristow-like character to the series that will take up the reins while Garner is indisposed.