California native Kelli Garner's promising film credits include a portrayal of an MS-afflicted high-school student with dreams of success on the beauty pageant circuit in Dreamland (2006), as well as of the love interest of protagonist Justin Conn (Lou Taylor Pucci) in the 2005 comedy drama Thumbsucker. Garner has appeared in Man of the House with Tommy Lee Jones (2005), and Martin Scorsese's The Aviator; she also co-stars in Lars and the Real Girl (2007). Over the next several years, Garner would appear in a number of projects like Going the Distance and The Lie.