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Sunday Gazette-Mail
March 2, 2003
Then & now
Sure, Jennifer Garner is hot as a supernova, but here's what she was like when she was just a rising star
by Rusty Marks
Friends knew early on that Jennifer Garner had more than your average share of talent.
“We started doing these things called ‘Jennifer and Cary Shows’ around the house,” recalled Elizabeth Cary Lantz, a childhood friend and classmate of the star of TV’s “Alias” spy drama and the action-adventure film “Daredevil.”
One time, Garner convinced Lantz that it would be a good idea to wrap themselves like mummies in colorful fabric and go out in the front yard to play badminton. She has the photographs to prove it.
The “Jennifer and Cary Shows,” usually instigated by Garner, involved skits and stories Garner would invariably make up as she went along. “She just took off with it,” said Lantz, now a doctor in Charleston. “It just came so naturally to her.”
Garner, 30, was born in Texas, but grew up in Charleston. A 1990 graduate of George Washington High School, she showed an early interest in the arts. By age 11 she was dancing with the Appalachian Youth Jazz-Ballet Company and appeared in plays staged by Children’s Theatre of Charleston and the Charleston Light Opera Guild.
She also played the saxophone. When Garner decided George Washington High needed a pep band, friends said she formed one.
“She was really talented,” remembered classmate Steve Grimm, who has known Garner since sixth grade and grew up a couple of doors down from her in South Hills.
“She kind of came in under the radar,” Grimm said. “She was heavily into dance and all that. She was going down a different road than a lot of kids. She was practicing all the time. When you’re into the arts and all that stuff, it sometimes kind of goes unnoticed.”
Nina Denton Pasinetti, longtime matriarch of the Charleston Light Opera Guild and Garner’s early mentor, said Garner dedicated herself to dance and acting and worked hard to be her best, even in junior high and high school.
“Jennifer was the type of kid who was disciplined and focused,” she said. “Anything she got, she made the most of it — and that’s what it takes.”
Pasinetti and Garner remain close. Pasinetti was one of only 25 people invited to Garner’s wedding to actor Scott Foley. She most recently saw Garner this past fall, when Garner invited her to watch filming for an episode of “Alias.”
“It was an all-day, all-night thing,” Pasinetti remembered. “I am fascinated by her work ethic. It is nothing for that girl to film all night long, practically every night.”
The price of fame
In interviews, Garner doesn’t describe herself as being particularly popular growing up. Friends say that’s because she was always concentrating on her art.
“She wasn’t unhip to people, she just chose a different path to follow,” Pasinetti said. “It was her choice, not theirs.”
“She was a straight and narrow person through college,” recalled Lantz, who attended Denison University with Garner. “She didn’t party like a lot of people. She was busy rehearsing.”
But the hard work began to pay off. In 1995, Garner moved to New York, where within a month she landed a part as an understudy on a Broadway production of “A Month in the Country.”
She had guest roles on television’s “Spin City” and “Law & Order,” played a recurring guest spot on “Felicity” and landed a supporting spot on “Party of Five” with Jennifer Love Hewitt.
Garner also had minor film roles in “Deconstructing Harry,” “In Harm’s Way,” “Mr. Magoo,” “Dude, Where’s My Car?” and “Pearl Harbor.”
But it was Garner’s role as sexy spy Sydney Bristow in “Alias” that catapulted her to stardom. Suddenly, Garner was on the cover of Rolling Stone, TV Guide, Glamour and even Teen People.
Director Steven Spielberg recently asked Garner to do an extended cameo as a call girl in “Catch Me If You Can.” And the girl from Charleston is currently onscreen with heartthrob Ben Affleck in “Daredevil.”
Those who know her insist success has not changed Jennifer Garner.
“Last summer she came in and we had a cookout,” Grimm said. “She’s very humble. I think it was just nice for her to get away from everything and be with people who know her.”
Success, has, however, made her a lot busier. Six months ago, an interview with Garner took a telephone call to her publicist and a couple of days’ notice. Now it requires a request in writing and several weeks for Garner to work the request into her hectic schedule.
“Jennifer has always had her head on her shoulders,” Lantz said. “She always has been a very ‘what you see is what you get’ kind of person. She hasn’t let Hollywood go to her head.”
Lantz said she and Garner always call each other on their birthdays. Garner’s schedule has postponed the tradition this year.
“She has very little time,” Pasinetti said. “They keep her so busy.”
But, she added, “I’m fascinated with how she’s handling all this. This is an all-day, every-day job she has.
“I truly expect her to be a Meryl Streep.”
© Sunday Gazette-Mail 2003
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