Jennifer Garner Quotes

I would always worry that I was only going to play the girl next door or the cute girlfriend. But I've been really lucky that all my roles have been very intense and completely different kinds of characters.

People always say, 'Oh, you've played a lot of waifs... ' but they were just girls. It's just that a lot of those everyday characters had never been on the screen before. I do hope I didn't get typed. I feel myself that I tried to do different things with those women.

Most of the time, actors respond to the thing that's so far from who they are. We all want to play the serial killer and the ex-con.

I do all kinds of roles - nerd, psycho, nerd, psycho, nerd, psycho - and occasionally someone kind of normal. It's weird, when I lived in Austin I was always cast as pretty normal people. But when I moved to Los Angeles I was immediately branded a psycho.

I've auditioned for normal characters. But I never get cast.

I think any actor hopes to have variety and range in what they do. Everybody has a certain range, so you take on roles to expand that the best you can... See things a little differently and whatnot.

I had so many offers after 'True Blood' for things that were someone in the same vein, but nowhere near Alan Ball's vision. Or something that was over-the-top and fantastical. And I've always wanted to play the regular, working-class mom, and I've never really had the chance to do that.

I've said maybe too many times that I'd rather be typecast than not cast at all.

I have been fortunate to experience a wide range of characters. What more can an actor ask for?

As an actor, I've been all over the map, but since I've moved to Hollywood, people tend to cast me in these more imposing characters, which is actually really fun for me. I've always been way more attracted to playing that than the hero.

No one ever let me be a bad guy once I started working more frequently after I got out of college and started pursuing acting. I just got all of the good-guy roles because if I walk in the room, not a lot of people believe me as a bad guy.

Of course, I would like to play the guy next door, but nobody's going to hire me for that kind of role.

I started off as an actor thinking that I would be this Romeo, this dashing leading man. It turns out that I'm a character actor.

I was happy she got it and I have to sort of - and one of the reasons I did Third Watch is because I wanted to break that thing of just being the pretty girl and play it down and let it be about the work.

As far as the lack of hits goes, I think perhaps it's because I've played a lot of different roles and have not created a persona that the public can latch on to. I have played everything from psychopathic killers to romantic leading men, and in picking such diverse roles I have avoided typecasting.

I sometimes want to do totally different roles. I don't always want to play 'wholesome.'

After 'Brothers & Sisters' ended, I was back to the old game as an actor. Doing pilot season, choosing a script and figuring out what I wanted to do.

The choice of roles as I grow older gets more and more limited, so if I pin myself to one kind of part I would get in trouble. So, these oddball ladies came along for me to do - I guess Terry Gilliam helped in this respect. I have found them more interesting, flashier and I get more mileage out of them.

In N.Y.C., I auditioned for mostly 'quirky friend' roles. Since casting directors in L.A. lacked a preconceived notion of me, I was able to reinvent my type a bit, which was essential in booking the role of Amanda on 'Ugly Betty.' I don't believe I would have auditioned for that role in N.Y.

People were confused by me, and at first I was auditioning a lot for the crazy characters or the victim, someone who'd been attacked. Which is great, because usually those are the best acting roles.

I don't think of myself as a character actress - that's become a phrase which means you've had it.

For me, I think you make a choice what kind of actor you want to be, and then it's kind of the material you choose.

I never felt that I was typecast, but I was concerned about it. I certainly made an effort to take as many parts in theater and film that resisted that. If you only learn how to act a certain kind of role, it is very difficult to grow as an actor.

I want to play real characters rather than young leads in very plotty things. I want variety.

The most surprising thing - and the thing I really didn't think I would have an opportunity to do when I was younger - was I didn't realize the kind of roles I would be able to play. I thought it would be, like, two lines here, the joke.