Jennifer Garner has made her name playing beautiful action heroines. She shot to fame thanks to her role as superspy Sydney Bristow in Alias, recruited as a secret agent straight out of college, who becomes entangled in a murky web of espionage and counter-espionage in a series of fabulous disguises.
And her recent role as vengeful leatherclad comicbook character Elektra - first in Daredevil with Ben Affleck, and soon in spin-off movie Elektra - completed the kick-ass chick image.
But in reality, the 32-year-old's sweet girl-next-door charm means she's perfect for her latest role - a 13-year-old who wakes up to find she's stuck in the body of a 30-year-old, in romantic comedy 13 Going On 30, opening on Wednesday August 4 [UK?].
And the Texas-born actress loved the chance to shed her tough girl persona, and rediscover her inner teenager.
"It's funny to me that people think of me as this serious tough chick because this is more like my own personality," she smiles.
"I wanted to remind myself that I'm not really a tough girl and could play myself."
And it wasn't even too big a stretch to revert to her teenage years again, she adds.
"I think all of us have our inner 13-year-old a lot closer to the surface than we're willing to admit."
Acting alongside young teens meant Jennifer had to find the right balance between child and adult, and dip into her own experiences of two decades ago.
"These girls I was hanging out with are smart and capable of having any kind of adult conversation - and then they'd flip and surprise you by being children and goofy and dramatic. I had to make sure I didn't go too far in any one direction."
There were a few hiccups along the way though, she admits, as she tried to regress 20 years.
"The first day we shot it involved me running down the street in high heels and I didn't even slow down, though I thought I was going slow. I kept saying to myself, 'I don't look like a spy, a spy runs faster than this'."
In fact with filming for Elektra and a fourth series of Alias, Jennifer is more used to taking complicated stunts in her stride, rather than acting the clumsy teen.
Her long years of ballet training have helped her with the stunt work. "It's not all about the action to me, it's about the acting and I happen to do action mixed in, which is the perfect combination."
