Jennifer Garner has been a familiar face on the big screen since 1995, but where did she grow up?
Jennifer Garner was born in Houston, Texas, and grew up in Charleston, West Virginia. She travelled around shortly after, attending university in Ohio, and an acting school in Connecticut.
Read on to learn more about Jennifer Garner’s background.
The Southern Girl
Jennifer Garner was born and initially raised in Houston, Texas. She lived here with her family until age three, when they uprooted and moved to Charleston, West Virginia. It’s here where Garner did the bulk of her growing up, staying in the state until the age of eighteen.
In an extensive interview, Jennifer Garner dove deep into her upbringing. She explained that she was raised to be quite conservative after her family had moved to West Virigina. However, she also explained that she “wouldn’t trade growing up in West Virginia for anything.”
Growing up as a ‘small town girl’, Garner gravitated towards hard work, and the community. She took part in community theater, volunteered at local stores, and attended church. As her parents were reportedly conservative, she and her siblings weren’t allowed to wear make-up or dye their hair, as examples.
This led Garner to jokingly refer to her family as ‘practically Amish’. She would ultimately retain these small-town values as she grew up and moved away, something she highlights as influences in her adult life. As an example, Garner has detailed that her cooking is reminiscent of her mother, and her upbringing in West Virginia.
After leaving West Virginia to attend university in Ohio, Garner’s life would change irreversibly. She was originally destined on an academic path, opting to study chemistry. This was undoubtedly influenced by her father, who was a chemical engineer for the Union Carbide company.
However, upon attending university for the first time, Garner changed her major and transitioned into theater. In the aforementioned interview, Garner’s parents explained that they were worried she wouldn’t succeed and might “be poor her whole life”, but they didn’t restrict their daughter.
After a brief interlude at a National Theatre Institute in Waterford, Connecticut, Garner graduated in 1994. This is where her acting career would begin and she’d start to transition into the public spotlight.
Grown Up And Gone To Film
After growing up a small-town girl in West Virginia, Garner transferred to the big screen. In the late nineties, she found a string of success in smaller, supporting roles, but this would blossom. In 2001, Garner received lead status in a television spy thriller, Alias. While writing the show, the creator – J. J. Abrams – actually created the character with Garner in mind as his first choice.
This is where the bulk of her success would come from, as by the end of the series, Garner would be earning up to $150,000 an episode. She also won multiple awards during her time on the show, and was nominated for several more.
Garner eventually transitioned to film and found nothing but consistent success as time went on. As she continued to grow, she expanded outwards into activism and philanthropy. She’s an artistic ambassador for Save The Children, and works to promote early education and nutritional equality.
She has also supported anti-paparazzi laws, and co-founded an organization that produces fresh, organic baby food. It becomes apparent that the small-town, community values instilled in Garner as a child still resonated many years later. She has also made numerous social media posts supporting causes such as Black Lives Matter.
There’s a great video on YouTube, uploaded in 2018, that shows Garner visiting students while advocating for children’s Education.