Jennifer Garner arrives at the Luxe Hotel in Los Angeles

WHEN Hollywood actress Jennifer Garner arrives at the Luxe Hotel in Los Angeles Garner apologises in advance if Jennifer Garner doesn't make sense today. Jennifer Garner sleep-deprived and has been ever since she gave birth to her second daughter, Seraphina, in January. Her eldest daughter, Violet, is three.

You wouldn't know it to look at her. Jennifer Garner looks radiant. In fact, in her gold dress and matching gold sandals ("I'm very bad with clothes," Jannfer Garner says when asked who the designer is), Garner looks like she's spent the morning being pampered. The actress laughs. She's actually been organising the children (feeding them, being thrown up on) so dad, Ben Affleck, wouldn't feel overwhelmed when she went off to work for a few hours.

Garner is here to promote her new film, Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past. It's also her birthday. She's 37 again, not that you'd know it to look at her. Her Ghosts co-star Matthew McConaughey is shocked by the revelation. "Thirty-seven, wow," he whistles. Garner smiles politely. She's known for being one of the nicest people you could ever meet so she doesn't poke him in the ribs even though he clearly meant: "Wow, you look good for your age."

The actress says cheerily: "Thirty-seven's great. I mean, everyone looks at you like: 'Oh gosh, you're on the slope to 40, are you OK?'

"First of all, 40 is no big deal any more. Did you see that Cindy Crawford shoot? [The one where 43-year-old Crawford is wearing little more than eyeliner and some strategically placed shaving foam.] Anyway, it's kind of busting the myth of 40. I love my life. I like it more than I ever have."

There's a lot to like. There's her four-year marriage to Affleck, which the naysayers predicted would never last. Garner's first marriage, to actor Scott Foley, ended in 2004 after 3 1/2 years. The family just moved into a new $17 million house in the upmarket suburb of Pacific Palisades. Neighbours include Adam Sandler, Steven Spielberg and Whoopi Goldberg. Then there's her career, which, like her family, is also blossoming.

In her latest film she plays one of the ex-girlfriends of committed bachelor Connor Mead, played by McConaughey. When they run into each other on the eve of Connor's younger brother's wedding, Garner's character, Jenny, is determined to make sure Connor and his cynical views on love don't ruin everything. But she's fighting a losing battle, which is why the ghosts of his former girlfriends decide it's time to show him the error of his womanising ways, a la Ebenezer Scrooge. Director Mark Waters chose Garner over rom-com regulars like Jennifer Aniston or Kate Hudson. It's a massive compliment because it's not what Garner is known for. She's an action girl, the woman who directors go to when they want 178 centimetres of lean, mean, sexy fighting machine. It's been like that for Garner ever since she was cast as CIA agent Sydney Bristow in Alias.From:www.smh.com.au