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Marlene
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From The Courier-Mail-
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Call my (CIA) agent</span>
Michael McKenna
July 24, 2003
ONLY in America would you find a Hollywood fantasy deployed to help combat a very dangerous reality.
US spy agency, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has a new recruitment poster girl and it isn't President George W. Bush's top security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
Instead, the CIA has turned to actress Jennifer Garner, the student-turned double agent on the Seven network's TV series, Alias, to lure Americans into the spy game for the new age of terrorism.
It is not an entirely absurd strategy.
In its third season, Alias has finally begun to convert its critical acclaim into ratings success in the US and around the world, due in part to the growing popularity of Garner.
A former ballerina from the deep south of the US, Garner has a healthy mix of girl-next-door and athletic beauty that has won over audiences and made her one of Hollywood's rising stars.
Over the past three years, the 31-year-old actor has won a Golden Globe award and made a jump to movies, culminating in her starring role in comic book blockbuster Daredevil, opposite Ben Affleck.
Despite her success on the big screen, which also involves a spin-off sequel to her Elektra character in Daredevil, Garner has made a rare commitment to the series, signing on for another six seasons as agent Sydney Bristow.
It was a decision, Garner says, on the eve of the third season premiere in Australia on July 28, that was easy to make. "There was no choice for me, I play Sydney Bristow; that's my day job," Garner says.
"Anything else . . . if Elektra fits in this summer, great . . . but Sydney comes first."
The third season of Alias is still action-packed but there is a greater emphasis on the relationships between characters – particularly the smouldering romance between Bristow and commander Michael Vaughn, played by Michael Vartan.
"There has been a lot of changes to this season, we needed to take a new direction in some areas because there was a danger the characters could get a little tired," Garner says.
"With Sydney, it was definitely time for her to be romantic, to explore that with Michael.
"Most people say that once the tension of a romance is gone then the romance of the show is dead – you know, that happened I guess on Moonlighting – but our show is not built around this tension.
"There is much more . . . it is just one element."
Garner says that the show is trying to get even sexier and much of the focus is on her.
"The producers of Alias have me sometimes dressing provocatively, and if that will get a bigger audience, that's fine," she says.
"I'm not at all hung up about showing my body."
Keeping fit has been part of her life since she was a youngster, growing up in West Virginia, and aspiring to a ballet career.
The former theatre actor, who made her stage debut in off-Broadway productions, says her body has always been part of her career so she keeps it in top shape.
"It's such a big part of my life," she says.
"Not that I work out so much – I only work out an hour a day. It's just that I don't miss . . . I pretty much fit it into my day.
"When your schedule is as packed as mine is, your day has to be manipulated."
She is, in her own words, no longer the meek girl from the South but Hollywood's newest "action chick" – and she could not be happier.
"The last year has been beyond my wildest dreams, and then some, with the success of Alias and the movie roles," she says.
"I started out wanting to do theatre, Shakespeare and Ginsberg, but I've taken a strange detour where I'm dressing in tight leathers and kicking people.
"It's great, I'll eventually get back to doing the more serious acting, but at the moment I'm loving the action stuff."
As for being the pin-up girl for the CIA, Garner is happy to serve.
"CIA operatives supposedly love the show," she says. "The CIA is using the video (and posters) to try to help recruit people into the CIA.
"It makes you feel so patriotic."
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Call my (CIA) agent</span>
Michael McKenna
July 24, 2003
ONLY in America would you find a Hollywood fantasy deployed to help combat a very dangerous reality.
US spy agency, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has a new recruitment poster girl and it isn't President George W. Bush's top security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
Instead, the CIA has turned to actress Jennifer Garner, the student-turned double agent on the Seven network's TV series, Alias, to lure Americans into the spy game for the new age of terrorism.
It is not an entirely absurd strategy.
In its third season, Alias has finally begun to convert its critical acclaim into ratings success in the US and around the world, due in part to the growing popularity of Garner.
A former ballerina from the deep south of the US, Garner has a healthy mix of girl-next-door and athletic beauty that has won over audiences and made her one of Hollywood's rising stars.
Over the past three years, the 31-year-old actor has won a Golden Globe award and made a jump to movies, culminating in her starring role in comic book blockbuster Daredevil, opposite Ben Affleck.
Despite her success on the big screen, which also involves a spin-off sequel to her Elektra character in Daredevil, Garner has made a rare commitment to the series, signing on for another six seasons as agent Sydney Bristow.
It was a decision, Garner says, on the eve of the third season premiere in Australia on July 28, that was easy to make. "There was no choice for me, I play Sydney Bristow; that's my day job," Garner says.
"Anything else . . . if Elektra fits in this summer, great . . . but Sydney comes first."
The third season of Alias is still action-packed but there is a greater emphasis on the relationships between characters – particularly the smouldering romance between Bristow and commander Michael Vaughn, played by Michael Vartan.
"There has been a lot of changes to this season, we needed to take a new direction in some areas because there was a danger the characters could get a little tired," Garner says.
"With Sydney, it was definitely time for her to be romantic, to explore that with Michael.
"Most people say that once the tension of a romance is gone then the romance of the show is dead – you know, that happened I guess on Moonlighting – but our show is not built around this tension.
"There is much more . . . it is just one element."
Garner says that the show is trying to get even sexier and much of the focus is on her.
"The producers of Alias have me sometimes dressing provocatively, and if that will get a bigger audience, that's fine," she says.
"I'm not at all hung up about showing my body."
Keeping fit has been part of her life since she was a youngster, growing up in West Virginia, and aspiring to a ballet career.
The former theatre actor, who made her stage debut in off-Broadway productions, says her body has always been part of her career so she keeps it in top shape.
"It's such a big part of my life," she says.
"Not that I work out so much – I only work out an hour a day. It's just that I don't miss . . . I pretty much fit it into my day.
"When your schedule is as packed as mine is, your day has to be manipulated."
She is, in her own words, no longer the meek girl from the South but Hollywood's newest "action chick" – and she could not be happier.
"The last year has been beyond my wildest dreams, and then some, with the success of Alias and the movie roles," she says.
"I started out wanting to do theatre, Shakespeare and Ginsberg, but I've taken a strange detour where I'm dressing in tight leathers and kicking people.
"It's great, I'll eventually get back to doing the more serious acting, but at the moment I'm loving the action stuff."
As for being the pin-up girl for the CIA, Garner is happy to serve.
"CIA operatives supposedly love the show," she says. "The CIA is using the video (and posters) to try to help recruit people into the CIA.
"It makes you feel so patriotic."
