“Rejection Is God’s Protection.” Jennifer Garner Says Losing ‘The West Wing’ Role Led Straight to ‘Alias’ Two Weeks Later

Post Views: 32

Jennifer Garner tested for a new role on ‘The West Wing’ and wanted it so badly that losing it sent her to the desert alone for a few days. Two weeks later, the audition for ‘Alias’ came to her.

“I got down and I tested for it. And when I didn’t get it, I had to like, go to the desert,” she said on the podcast Aspire with Emma Grede. Two weeks later, “Alias came to me.”

Jennifer Garner holds up a copy of ‘Alias Declassified: The Official Companion’ alongside co-star Michael Vartan at a Barnes & Noble signing event at the Grove in Los Angeles on Oct. 8, 2002. Photo by Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images.

That J.J. Abrams spy series ran on ABC from September 2001 to May 2006, and Garner’s turn as double agent Sydney Bristow became her breakthrough role. The cast around her included Victor Garber, Michael Vartan and a pre-fame Bradley Cooper.

It’s hard to overstate how much ‘Alias’ reshaped Garner’s career. Before Sydney Bristow, she was a working actress with a handful of recognizable credits — a recurring arc on ‘Felicity,’ plus supporting turns in ‘Pearl Harbor’ and ‘Dude, Where’s My Car?’ The spy series moved her from that tier into genuine Hollywood stardom, making her a household name and, for the first time, a leading actress carrying a show.

Fans think the West Wing role Garner was up for was Ainsley Hayes, the Republican lawyer played by Emily Procter (left). Instead, she played Sidney Bristow on Alias (right).

The part also remade her as an action star. Playing Bristow meant extensive fighting, stunts, foreign languages and a rotating wardrobe of disguises, and Garner has described the five-year run as essentially an “acting boot camp” that taught her how much she could handle at once.

The industry validation followed fast. She won the 2002 Golden Globe for Best Actress in a TV Drama and picked up four Emmy nominations for the role, while ABC touted her early on as having effectively rewritten the rules for female action characters — a physically capable heroine who was also warm and relatable, a screen identity that has stuck with her since.

Jennifer Garner and Victor Garber on Alias.

‘Alias’ opened the door to movies, too. During its run, Garner took on increasingly prominent film roles, including ‘Daredevil’ and its spinoff ‘Elektra’ and, crucially, ’13 Going on 30.’ She has said the shift in her fame arrived “in such an instant and enormous way” once the show took off.

Garner, 54, framed the whole thing as a pattern she’s learned to trust. “Rejection is God’s protection? Whatever that is, I’m all for that. Let’s believe that, you know? Let’s go with that.”

Thanks for reading Thought Catalog. Join us on Facebook, or keep reading on our website.