Jennifer Garner revealed the depth of her bond with Victor Garber, describing the veteran actor as a true father figure in her life, one who officiated at her wedding and serves as godfather to one of her children.
Garner, 54, revisited some of his most iconic roles in a video for Vanity Fair on July 9, with her starring role as spy Sydney Bristow in the ABC thriller Aliaswhich ran from 2001 to 2006 and earned him four Emmy nominations, prominently.
Garber played Sydney’s father, Jack Bristow, throughout the series, and the connection clearly went far beyond the screen.
Before being cast alongside him, Garner was a devoted fan, watching Garber on Broadway from the cheapest seats she could afford while living in New York.
“I couldn’t afford to see plays, so I’d spend $20 to stand in the back. I’d seen Victor in Arcadia, in Art, in Damn Yankees, and when I heard he was going to play my dad, I kind of lost my mind. I was so excited.”
It didn’t take long for her to notice the whole truth. “Everything Victor Garber does is iconic,” she said of her friend.
The friendship born from this casting lasted for decades.
“I will do anything to be with him or to see him or to be there for him or to call him when I need him,” Garner said. “It’s a valuable relationship.”
The video also produced a moment of mild deflation when Garner watched a clip of Garber’s character driving a car while simultaneously shooting people outside the window.
“My God, he’s a badass,” she said, before immediately clarifying that Garber is actually “a horrible driver” in real life, a trait she attributes to him being a lifelong New Yorker.
“There’s no way it was Victor,” she said of the stunt.
Garner has continued to work with Garber since Alias ended, he had a guest role in the first season of his Apple TV+ series The last thing he said to me, and both have publicly expressed support for a possible reboot of the series.
Alias also starred Ron Rifkin, Michael Vartan, Carl Lumbly, Kevin Weisman and a young Bradley Cooper.
