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Glamour
February 2003
Jennifer Garner's Dos & Don'ts
By John Griffiths
Transcript courtesy of Lauren, Vartan Ho #350. Thanks! :)
She has a hit TV show (Alias) and a film with Ben Affleck (Daredevil). What makes Hollywood's new #1 she-ro tick?
JENNIFER GARNER KNOWS HOW TO PLAY IT cool. As double agent Sydney Bristow on ABC's Alias, she's just about the buffest spy ever (sorry, Halle). She also charmed Leo out of his boxers in the film Catch Me If You Can, and this month Garner throws around some attitude—and Ben Affleck—as vixen Elektra in the flick Daredevil. While Garner, 30, expertly does almost all her own stunts, she's quick to point out her flaws. For starters, she says, "I eat too much sugar, I have weird ears and I slouch in chairs." Here, the humble actress gives Glamour her personal Dos and Don'ts.
DON'T GET INTIMIDATED
"While filming Daredevil, Ben Affleck and I were learning fight scenes from this Chinese wire team, and both of us felt a little like they were over our heads. We were so overwhelmed by how bad we were that we laughed our way through it. Not that we didn't focus—it was 50 percent discipline and 50 percent this-is-the-funniest-thing-I've-ever-done-in-my-life. I'd say, 'Ben, what are we doing here, hanging from the ceiling?'"
DON'T SKIMP ON SLEEP
"I insist on six hours every night. One day last year, I was really late for work. I was supposed to get up at 4:30 but woke up at 7:30. People were calling and calling, but we didn't hear the phone. When I woke up, I was hysterical, so Scott [actor Scott Foley, 30, whom Garner married in October 2000] drove me to the set. That got me so keyed up about being late that sometimes now I wake up too early. I'll be in the shower thinking, God, I am so tired today. Then I'll get out and the clock will say 2:15! Now when I wake up, I quiz myself: Is it really time to get up? Did the alarm really go off?"
DO EXUDE CONFIDENCE
"On Alias, Sydney is self-contained. Just walking the way Sydney does—with your shoulders back and head up—gives you a sense of being able to take on the world. As goofy as it sounds, I try to be more like her."
DO LAUGH AT YOURSELF
"I work with the funniest people, and they consider it their mission to point out the strangest things about me. Like my ears—the light glows through them and makes them pink. And now and then, I slip into a West Virginia accent [from growing up in Charleston]. But I don't cringe about any of it. To me, the funniest thing is tripping. I'll do a fight scene, then trip. The other day, I tripped at a shopping center! People knew I was the Alias chick, and I laughed so hard. What can you do? Might as well let people in on what a buffoon you are."
DO EAT WHAT MAKES YOU FEEL GOOD
"I don't believe in crash-dieting. I was 120 pounds and felt great. But now I weigh 130; I'm a size 6 or 8 and I'm fine with that. I've learned how to keep my blood sugar steady. I'm not a freak about it, but I'm aware that if I eat oatmeal and egg whites for breakfast, that's my carbs and protein. Then a couple of hours later, I'll have peanut butter and apples or yogurt and berries. Then I'll be ready for lunch. I used to eat candy straight through the day. Now my brain works better and I feel better when I feed my body well."
DON'T GET STRESSED
"I've accepted that my life is not going to be balanced, and that's OK. But I have this stress-induced rash around my nose. I don't think I'm stressed, but my nose thinks I am. It got so bad that my makeup artist marched me into the producer and said, 'I cannot work with this nose.' So they sent me to a dermatologist. In the trailer, all we talk about is my nose. 'How's the nose? Did you put your nose medicine on?'"
DO VALUE WORK
"Early in my career, I played a dolphin on [the late-nineties version of TV's] Fantasy Island. I'd just broken up with this guy and was heartsick; I needed a job. I was a little bit like, Holy manoly! This isn't the most prestigious thing I've done, but who cares? People always say, 'Are you ashamed of this job or that job?' No, I'm not. When I got that job, I clicked my heels."
DON'T FORCE FASHION
"In the world of fashion, it's easy for me to feel out of place, so I try to avoid feeling dressed up like a clown. I'm more comfortable in casual stuff—jeans and sweaters."
DON'T BE AFRAID OF A GOOD BODY SLIMMER
"That's a modern word for girdle. I wear them under dresses to hold everything in. You feel neater, and your lines are better. Whether I'm having my skinniest day ever or I feel bloated, I always wear one."
DO KNOW YOUR LIMITS
"I have to say, I am not the queen of technology. I can't even text-message on my cell phone. Everybody in the Alias cast text-messages one other, but I can't get in on the game because I can't figure it out."
DO FOLLOW YOUR PASSION
"I recently spoke at my college, Denison University, and it was great. I said to the students—and I really believe this—'If you love something, no matter how obscure it is, you can make a living at it.' I didn't think acting would work. Still, you couldn't tear me away from the theater department. I was seduced by being onstage. I wanted to be involved in that world in any way, from the lowliest thing to being on the set."
DO CHAMPION A CAUSE
"Scott and I are the new spokespeople for Cedars-Sinai Research for Women's Cancers. Scott's mom passed away from ovarian cancer 15 years ago, so this cause is really important to both of us."
Sidebar:
Garners real-life love story
Their first date: "I met Scott [actor Scott Foley, her husband] when we were both on Felicity, for our first date, we took our dogs to the dog park. His got violently carsick—twice. We had to keep stopping so Scott could scoop it out of the car. Afterward, I cooked for him at my apartment. On our next date, we went for a drive up the coast, and he cooked for me."
Her "He's The One" revelation: "I realized it was working out when we'd been together a year and it was still just as great as when we started. You know when you've been dating someone for a couple of months and you're like, There's nothing wrong with this person, but then you start finding chinks in the armor, ways you don't fit that you thought you did? I never found them with Scott. We just kept fitting."
Their first real house: "I used to think the most romantic thing Scott had ever done was take me to Paris for New Year's a few months after we started dating. But then we bought a small house, and we've spent six weeks redoing it. I care much more than I thought I would about furniture, what's going on the walls and things like that. He's bitten his tongue so many times because he sees how happy it makes me, and that is now the most romantic thing he's done."
Her retort to naysayers: "Scott's a Cancer, and I'm an Aries. People are like, 'Ooh, not good. He's water and you're fire.' Well, what am I going to do — divorce him because my sign's not right?"
Caption under small pic of her and Scott: "We can't wait to have kids, but it won't be this year," says Garner.
© Glamour 2003
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