Further career

After the initial success of Alias, Jennifer Garner returned to her film career with a small role in the Steven Spielberg film Catch Me if You Can, and starred alongside Ben Affleck as Elektra Natchios in the action movie Daredevil, an adaptation of the comic book. Garner showed her comedic side in 2004's 13 Going on 30, a romantic comedy whose commercial success established her as a leading feature film actress, and reprised her role as "Elektra" in the 2005 spin-off to Daredevil, entitled Elektra. Garner is known for performing her own stunts, and in January 2005 was forced to bow out of some publicity duties for Elektra, due to what was first thought to have been a viral infection but was revealed to be the effects of nerve damage to her back, caused by a stunt during the filming of the fourth season of Alias.

During the 2006 Academy Awards ceremony, Jennifer Garner stumbled on her flowing dress (designed by Michael Kors) as she came onto the stage to present the award for Sound Editing. She did not fall, but lost her balance, and jokingly commented, "I do my own stunts!"

Catch and Release (film), a romantic comedy, opened on January 26, 2007. Garner has formed a production company named Vandalia Films, which will produce its first film in 2007. She will produce the company's upcoming films Sabbatical and Be with You. Garner took her first role as part of an ensemble in The Kingdom alongside Jamie Foxx, Jason Bateman and Ashraf Barhom. Box office analysts have commented that the choice was a smart move on Garner's part, as her other projects with her as the sole lead are risky gambles. Garner was set to star in Zach Braff's directorial feature of Open Hearts but backed out of the project so she could spend more time with her family.

Jennifer Garner appeared in the Jason Reitman-directed comedy/drama feature Juno. After that film's premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, Entertainment Weekly declared Garner's role the best female supporting performance of the festival, saying "The star of Alias and The Kingdom does no butt-kicking in this sweet comedy. Instead, as a young wife desperately hoping to adopt, she's funny, a bit tough, and unbelievably touching."

Garner appeared as Roxanne in Cyrano de Bergerac at the Richard Rodgers Theatre on Broadway from November 1, 2007 alongside Kevin Kline who was in the title role. This was her Broadway debut. Cyrano de Bergerac, originally set to run until December 23, 2007, was extended through January 6, 2008 due to the Broadway stagehand strike in late 2007. For this role Garner won the 9th Annual broadway.com Audience Award for Favorite Actress in a Play.

In 2008, She again appeared as a presenter at the Oscars. However, for Garner, this part of the evening was somewhat overshadowed in the next day's press by discussions of the unexpected interruption of her Red Carpet interview by Gary Busey. Busey later publicly appologised for the incident, saying that he merely wanted to congratulate Laura Linney, who was being interviewed along with Garner, and didn't realise that they were being interviewed at the time. Later in the year, she began filming of two new movies, The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and This Side of the Truth, both currently set for release during 2009.