Jennifer Garner reveals 'crucial' link to her Hollywood stardom
Jennifer Garner used to work behind the scenes before becoming an actress and explained that building sets and selling tickets at annual theatre festivals eventually led to her Hollywood stardom
Jennifer Garner insisted it is important to be "nice" to crew on set because she knows she could never do their jobs.
The 51-year-old actress spent her summers working in various behind-the-scenes roles at theatres before finding fame, and she admitted she kept getting moved to different departments because she wasn't particularly skilled in areas such as set-building or costume fitting.
Speaking to 'Abbott Elementary' star Sheryl Lee Ralph for Variety's 'Actors on Actors' series, she said: "People have no idea that they are the crucial link to you getting your start. I worked in summer stock every summer.
"I would hang the lights and build the sets and sell the tickets.
"I’ve been fired from costume departments before, and they sent me to construction. I got sent back to costumes. They sent me to tickets.
"I might as well be a performer, and I better be nice doing it, because I know I can’t do those other jobs."
The '13 Going On 30' actress - who was previously married to fellow Hollywood star Ben Affleck from 2005 until 2018 and has Violet, 17, Seraphina, 14, and 11-year-old Samuel with him - has in recent years turned away from movies to go back to television with roles in the sitcom 'Party Down' and Apple+ drama 'The Last Thing He Told Me', and explained that she "loves" being able to spend more time with a character for a batch of episodes as opposed to when she is starring in a movie.
She said: "What I love about television, I love hanging with a character.
"The richness of those relationships over time are reflected in the work.
"That has been really joyful about doing 'The Last Thing He Told Me' after all of those years on 'Alias'."
And Jennifer still works with the same team on her shows now as she did when she first made her name with her award-winning role as Sydney Bristow in ABC's action thriller series 'Alias'.
"And by the way, we finished 17 years ago, and I still have several people from that show with me on everything I do.
"My stunt double, who was just starting out the fourth episode of 'Alias' we’ve been together since then.
"I’ve had the same stand-in just as long. I’ve had the same costumer just as long."
