Jennifer Garner Attended Theatre School With a ‘Young Sheldon’ Star

Jennifer Garner and Young Sheldon star Lance Barber attended the same theater school together. The two actors honed their skills at the Barn Theatre School for Advanced Theatre Training in Augusta, Michigan in 1993. During a recent Entertainment Tonight interview, Barber even admitted to having a crush on the future Alias star.

“She was a young theater student, and she came out to do summer-stock theater to get that experience as well, and we did some shows together,” Barber, who plays Sheldon Cooper’s father on Young Sheldon, told ET in June. “My recollection of Jen is the same as everybody’s… she was delightful and wonderful, and everybody had a crush on her at the time.”

Barber remembered Garner was a “genuinely talented and sweet person” during their theater school days. None of their classmates were shocked when Garner became a star. “Everyone was proud, and no one was surprised,” Barber said. Dana Delany attended the Barn Theatre school in the late 1970s, while Lauren Graham studied there in the late 1980s.

Although Barber remembered Garner as a sweet person, she told Conan O’Brien in 2014 that she was a bit rambunctious when not studying. “I didn’t drink. I was never a big party girl, but I, um, streaked,” Garner admitted. “I don’t know why… I was just in a naked frame of mind. I don’t think I was the only streaker, but I might have been the leader of the streakers. We just all streaked all summer. After the show, late at night, I mean, I don’t know. I don’t know, why we are talking about this?”

Penelope Alex Ragotzy, who was one of Garner’s classmates, confirmed Garner’s story to MLive in 2014. “There was a certain style of underwear she hadn’t worn until she got here,” Ragotzy said. However, Ragotzy said Garner was very serious about acting. “Jennifer was quite studious and very serious. She’d show up with her hair in a ponytail, sweats on, and was ready to go to work. She was all business,” she recalled.

All that hard work has paid off for Garner. Since breaking through with Alias in 2001, Garner has retained her star status for two decades. Her most recent projects include the Netflix movies Yes Day and The Adam Project. She also has a starring role in the upcoming Apple TV+ series The Last Thing He Told Me, based on the novel by Laura Dave. Garner plays Hannah, who starts an unexpected relationship with her stepdaughter while searching for her missing husband. Game of Thrones vet Nikolaj Coster-Waldau also stars in the series, which Dave created with Spotlight co-writer Josh Singer.