Jennifer Garner has a new man in her life.
Jennifer Garner has a new man in her life.
The 46-year-old actress has been dating 40-year-old businessman John Miller for a few months, a source tells ET. According to the source, the two hit it off immediately after being introduced by mutual friends.
"They went for romantic dinners far out of town or at his home," the source says. "He is warm, fun and incredibly smart. He is a real success in the business world and has no interest in being in the entertainment industry.”
While Miller is unknown in Hollywood, he is renowned for his accomplishments in the field of technology. From his impressive career to his personal life, here's everything to know about Garner's new beau.
1. He's the CEO and chairman of Cali Group.
Miller founded Cali Group in 2011, a holding company focused on using technology to transform the restaurant and retail industries. The company is best known for its global restaurant chain, CaliBurger. According to Cali Group's website, the company objective is to "conceive of new technologies to fundamentally change the brick and mortar world, invest in proof of concept of the technologies at our CaliBurger restaurant in Pasadena, and then spin out companies to raise outside capital and build separate management teams to commercialize the technologies."
The company is certainly succeeding when it comes to implementing new technology. CaliBurger is notable for its use of "Flippy," the world’s first autonomous robotic kitchen assistant developed by Miso Robotics (a company which Cali Group also owns) that works alongside staff to cook burgers.
In a video shared on YouTube in January, Miller also talks about another CaliBurger innovation -- a face-based payment program using new facial recognition software by NEC.
"We're on our way to one of the most effective, accurate and the fastest technology with the NEC system," Miller says while showing off the customer experience at CaliBurger. " ... Self-ordering kiosks which allow people to directly order -- and order the most efficient way by logging in with their face, and paying with their face -- reduces our labor costs and makes the restaurant run more efficiently."
2. He is an author and considered influential in the tech world.
According to the Cali Group website, prior to founding his own company, Miller was the second employee at Arrowhead, where he was responsible for the formation, growth and sale of Arrowhead’s electronics business unit.
Miller graduated Order of the Coif from Stanford Law School and is also one of the authors of The Handbook of Nanotechnology Business, Policy, and Intellectual Property Law, which examines the key policy, business and investment issues driving nanotechnology and how to understand and classify its applications.
3. He is still legally married.
Miller and concert violinist Caroline Campbell filed for divorce in 2011, but their divorce has not been finalized yet. Us Weekly also reports that he's a dad to two children -- a 12-year-old son and a 10-year-old daughter -- and that when it comes to him and Campbell, the two are just waiting for a judge to sign off and make it official.
Interestingly enough, Garner and Ben Affleck were recently in the same situation, before the actress filed to speed up the process by requesting a private judge to sign off on their divorce papers in order to finalize it. Garner and 46-year-old Affleck had been separated since 2015 before their divorce became official earlier this month.
4. Garner's friends approve of the relationship.
A source tells ET that the actress' pals couldn't be happier for Garner's new relationship, especially given her tumultuous relationship with Affleck, who has been open about his struggle with alcohol addiction. Garner drove Affleck to his third stint in rehab in August, which he completed earlier this month.
"Her friends know how much pain Jen has been through in the last several years and have wanted this for her for a very long time," the source says. "They are thrilled to see her happy. She literally has been smiling ear to ear. Right now, Jen’s dating life is going so well and Ben has finally started taking his sobriety seriously, that she is over the moon -- and she deserves it.”
“Jen’s marriage to Ben has been over for a very long time and, while her first priority has always been her kids, she knew she needed to rebuild her life without Ben," the source adds. "It wasn’t easy at first and she even had to push herself to date. When she finally did step into that world, she kept that part of her life very private.”
5. He looks a lot like Garner's ex-boyfriend and Alias co-star, Michael Vartan.
We couldn't help but notice that Miller bears a striking resemblance to 49-year-old actor Michael Vartan, whom Garner actually dated in 2003 before splitting a year later. Vartan and Garner met while working together on Alias, in which he played her love interest and fellow CIA agent, Michael Vaughn.
Last January, Vartan spoke to ET about a possible Alias reunion, and had nothing but praise for Garner and the ensemble cast.
"Alias remains one of my favorite memories of all time," he said. "When you work with people, especially people who are so incredible ... you really become a family."
Earlier this month, a source told ET that Garner was dating again following her split from Affleck. Garner was also staying "far away from celebrity dating," the source said at the time.
"Her closest friends are in full support of Jen moving on and finding someone special to spend her life with," the source said. "She truly deserves the very best. After everything Jen's been through, her friends and family are rooting for her to move on and live her life without Ben, and finally she seems 100 percent on board."
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