Jennifer Garner Didn’t Think She’d Be an Actress …

Published: November 15, 2024

Jennifer Garner Didn’t Think She’d Be an Actress …

By Movieguide® Contributor

Award-winning actress Jennifer Garner never planned on being an actress despite the success she’s found throughout the years.

Rather than dreaming of acting, Garner was a dedicated dancer throughout her early years, giving her blood, sweat and tears to ballet. Even heading into her early adult years, she focused more on her dancing while picking up acting gigs on the side.

“Well, I never wanted…I didn’t think I would be an actor,” Garner told the “Lipstick on the Rim” podcast, per Fox News. “I didn’t think that that was a possibility. I didn’t think about it anyway. There’s so many jobs I’ve always wanted to do. I still feel that way. I’m still like any minute in my fifties, I’m going to go back to school and study. I don’t know. But it was just kind of what I did. And it was an extracurricular that took over my life. And so, I danced every day after school.”

Her focus on dance and acting naturally caused schooling to fall away, something that bothered her parents, especially given her older sister’s academic success.

“I was pretty myopic, but still, my dad would sit me down and say, ‘Jennifer, it’s wonderful that you’re doing this, but shouldn’t you be focusing just on something real to study in and to study for?'” Garner said.

“My older sister was valedictorian, and she’s brilliant, and I think he just so badly wanted me to follow her, and I was a good student, but I was definitely distracted, you know,” she added.

However, Garner’s love for entertainment won out, and she made a life without having to sacrifice her love.

“It wasn’t like it was a dream. It was a love. I was following a love. I just had so much love for it, and I wanted and I still feel that way. I still just really love it, and I really want to be better at it, but it’s not ever been like I have a dream to X, Y and Z. I don’t see myself in that way,” she explained. “I’m just, I just really love what I do and I, it’s always been hard for me and I really, really want to do my best.”

Because acting was never Garner’s true love, it has made it a lot easier to put it aside to focus on her family. Garner is a dedicated mom, and though she still takes on roles and runs a business, she also prioritizes her kids.

“My travel is always so carefully orchestrated. I’m always landing and skating right into a kid’s performance or bedtime,” the mom of three later told Thriller. “So my biggest fear is delays that could get in the way of making it to something for my kids.”