’13 Going on 30′ turns 20: How did Jennifer Garner fail to garner awards attention?

Tariq Khan
·7 min read
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Twenty years ago this month, the fairy tale-like romantic comedy “13 Going on 30” starring Jennifer Garner made its way into cinemas. The actress played Jenna Rink, a socially awkward soon-to-be 13-year-old who quickly realizes that she “hates being 13.” She makes a birthday wish to be “thirty, flirty and thriving.” With the little help of some wishing dust, she wakes up the next morning to discover that her wish has come true.

It was a defining moment in Garner’s early career. Her role as Sydney Bristow in the television action thriller series “Alias” had made her a breakout star (including at awards shows) just a few years earlier. She won the Golden Globe for Best Drama Actress in 2002 and had competed again in 2003 and earlier in 2004. She had also been nominated for two Emmy Awards one Screen Actors Guild trophy. (Note that I’m referring to her awards tally as it stood in April 2004, when “13 Going on 30” was released.)

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While Garner already had a number of film credits on her resume, “13” marked the first time that she had to carry a picture all by herself. (She was just a supporting player in 2000’s “Dude, Where’s My Car?” and 2003’s “Daredevil.”) So naturally, Hollywood insiders were curious to see if she could make a daredevil-style jump from TV celebrity to full fledged movie star overnight.

And like Jenna Rink in the film, she pretty much did.

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”13 Going on 30” opened to $22 million at the domestic box office, hot on the heels of the chart-topping Denzel Washington thriller “Man on Fire.” “13” received generally positive reviews from many often-snobbish critics, most of them effusively praising Garner’s performance. “Beguiling,” “charming” and “dazzling” were just some of the words used to describe her efforts. Naturally, her work was compared to that of Tom Hanks in 1988’s “Big.” In that film, the one-time “Bosom Buddies” sitcom actor was similarly transformed from child to adult after going to bed one night. “Big” became one of the biggest hits of the year, and brought Hanks his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. (He would lose to Dustin Hoffman in 1988’s Best Picture, “Rain Man.”)

For her part, Garner seemed flattered that the media was pointing to similarities between her turn in “13” and that of Hanks in “Big.”

But the big question in my mind was … could Garner now go from Emmy nominee to Oscar nominee?

Of course, I knew that it was a long shot. It was only the spring, and most of the titles playing in movie theaters were likely to be forgotten by the fall. Also, “13 Going on 30” wasn’t exactly prime Oscar material. But if Hanks in “Big” was able to get in the game, then why not Garner?

Comedic performances by women actually had a much better track record at the Oscars than those delivered by men. The past two decades had seen Kathleen Turner in 1986’s “Peggy Sue Got Married,” Cher in 1987’s “Moonstruck,” Melanie Griffith in 1988’s “Working Girl,” Pauline Collins in 1989’s “Shirley Valentine,” Julia Roberts in 1990’s “Pretty Woman,” Helen Hunt in 1997’s “As Good as It Gets,” Renee Zellweger in 2001’s “Bridget Jones’s Diary” and Diane Keaton in 2003’s “Something’s Gotta Give” all earn Best Actress noms. Cher and Hunt had even won. Garner’s work was arguably on the same level as that of the funny ladies mentioned above. Not only did she shine while showing off her comedic skills, she projected honesty, vulnerability and heartbreak during her character’s more serious moments.

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By the end of 2004, there appeared to be three locks for Best Actress nominations: Annette Bening in “Being Julia,” Imelda Staunton in “Vera Drake” and Hilary Swank in “Million Dollar Baby.” Catalina Sandino Moreno in “Maria Full of Grace” and Kate Winslet in “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” were also being mentioned. I realized that Garner was probably out of the running. (As expected, the five actresses above went on to reap both SAG and Oscar bids. Swank would pick up both prizes.)

However, I did believe that Garner was very likely to land a Golden Globe nomination for Best Comedy/Musical Actress. She was now a major Hollywood star, had appeared in a critically and commercially successful movie, and had delivered a widely acclaimed comedic performance.

Much to my surprise (and disappointment), Garner was left out of at the Golden Globes. The Musical or Comedy Actress list consisted of Bening and Winslet as expected, plus some out-of-left field choices like Ashley Judd in “De-Lovely,” Emmy Rossum in “The Phantom of the Opera” and Zellweger in “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason.” The only reason that I could come up with to explain Garner’s absence was that the Globe voters nominated her on the TV side for “Alias” for a fourth straight year, and figured that ensured her presence at the ceremony. But it was unfortunate. Cameron Diaz in 1998’s “There’s Something About Mary,” Sandra Bullock in 2000’s “Miss Congeniality,” Nia Vardalos in 2002’s “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” and Jamie Lee Curtis in 2003’s “Freaky Friday” had all scored Globe Comedy Actress noms in recent years, even though they weren’t expected to be players at the Oscars. Garner would have been an equally worthy Globe Comedy selection.

There was at least one silver lining for Garner. That awards season, she won her first (and thus far only) SAG trophy – for “Alias.” She beat out some big names and previous honorees — namely two-time “The West Wing” champ Allison Janney. (It was the perfect revenge. Janney had stolen the Emmy from Garner in 2002, when virtually everyone who watched Garner’s reel agreed that she blew Janney and the rest of the competition away.) I have to think that Garner’s appearance in “13 Going on 30” was in the minds of many guild members when they voted for her in “Alias” in 2005.

Garner has continued to work steadily in both film and television the past two decades. She was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences 13 years ago. Her “13 Going on 30” love interest Mark Ruffalo has now racked up four Oscar nominations, all for Best Supporting Actor. (The “Poor Thing” is still waiting for the statuette to come his way.) And Brie Larson, who had a tiny role in “13,” would go on to win Best Actress of 2015 for “Room.” So perhaps Garner could become the third “13” alumnus to make a go at the Oscar.

Regardless of what the awards gods have in store for her, “13 Going on 30” will always stand as one of her finest and most memorable performances. And here’s hoping that Jennifer Garner can someday make a Jenna Rink-style move from Oscar would-be to Oscar nominee. As “13 Going Going on 30” showed us, sometimes even the wildest dreams really do come true.

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