Jennifer Garner has been a Hollywood star since the turn of the millennium. How many languages does she speak, and which ones?
Jennifer Garner speaks two languages, English and Spanish. She has appeared on Spanish language TV and spoke both Spanish and English during these appearances, a sign that she might not be fully fluent in Spanish. Garner had to speak several languages while portraying Sydney Bristow on “Alias”, a role for which she won several awards.
For more on Jennifer Garner, her time learning Spanish and the many languages she used on “Alias”, read on.
Jennifer Garner
Jennifer Garner was born in Houston Texas on April 17, 1972, but moved to Charleston, West Virginia as a toddler. Her father worked as a chemical engineer while her mother was a homemaker before becoming an English teacher.
She is the middle child of both a younger and older sister and tried her best to differentiate herself. She has described her father as very conservative and her mother as quietly liberal.
Both of Garner’s parents are American, so it seems unlikely she would have inherited any language other than English from her parents.
Garner attended her local United Methodist Church weekly and attended Vacation Bible School, with her and her sisters being forbidden from expressing themselves with hair dye, makeup, or piercings.
She enrolled at Denison University in Ohio, originally following in her father’s footsteps by studying chemistry but switched to studying theater, graduating in 1994 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in theater performance.
After a few leading roles in smaller productions and minor roles in larger films such as “Pearl Harbor”, Garner was cast as the lead in JJ Abrams’ spy thriller “Alias” in 2001. The show was her breakout role and still her favorite.
Learning Spanish
It’s unclear when exactly Garner began learning Spanish but references she has made in interviews point to her studying the language during high school. She talked about how she learned to speak the language with a West Virginian accent, due to learning it from a teacher who did the same.
Garner might have revisited learning Spanish sometime later in life. A likely source is her former husband, Ben Affleck. Affleck speaks extensive Spanish, having learned the language while living in Mexico for a year during his time as a child actor.
She has talked about her children learning Spanish, proudly mentioning that her daughter won a Spanish spelling bee in school.
While appearing for an interview on Telemundo, a Spanish-language station, Garner switched back and forth between English and Spanish frequently. She clearly understood most of what was being said to her but wasn’t completely fluent to the extent that she could complete the entire interview in Spanish.
There’s no indication of Garner speaking any other language, English aside, so it seems that she speaks one language fluently and another, Spanish, to decent level.
Alias
However many languages Jennifer Garner speaks in reality, her language skills were frequently put to the test during her time on “Alias”. Garner played CIA double agent Sydney Bristow and underwent extensive training to prepare for the role.
In addition to getting in peak physical condition and learning fight choreography, Garner was also required to speak convincing French, German, Russian, and Japanese. She has talked about how much multitasking she had to perform as an actor, executing fight scenes, speaking different languages, and using props.
For Garner, these challenges were a blessing rather than a curse. She has said that Sydney Bristow was the favorite role of her career and the series was well-received, frequently landing on “best TV shows of the 2000s” lists.
She also earned award recognition her versatility, nominated for four Golden Globes for Best Performance By An Actress in a Television Series between 2002 and 2005, winning in 2002.