Alias 

Sydney Bristow is an international spy recruited out of college, trained for espionage and self-defense.

Creator:

J.J. Abrams

Stars:

Jennifer Garner, Ron Rifkin, Carl Lumbly

Won 1 Golden Globe. Another 31 wins & 145 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Jennifer Garner	...	Sydney Bristow / ... 105 episodes, 2001-2006
Ron Rifkin	...	Arvin Sloane 105 episodes, 2001-2006
Carl Lumbly	...	Marcus Dixon 105 episodes, 2001-2006
Kevin Weisman	...	Marshall Flinkman 105 episodes, 2001-2006
Victor Garber	...	Jack Bristow 105 episodes, 2001-2006
Michael Vartan	...	Michael Vaughn 96 episodes, 2001-2006
Greg Grunberg	...	Eric Weiss 68 episodes, 2001-2006
David Anders	...	Julian Sark 56 episodes, 2002-2006
Merrin Dungey	...	Francie Calfo / ... 48 episodes, 2001-2006
Bradley Cooper	...	Will Tippin 47 episodes, 2001-2006

Storyline

Sydney Bristow is a young, athletic, college graduate who was recruited her freshman year as a Secret Agent for SD-6, a top-secret branch of the C.I.A. After a few years, after Sydney confides her lifestyle to her boyfriend, the evil head of SD-6, Arvin Sloan, has him killed. Sydney learns that SD-6 is part of a rogue international agency called the Alliance of 12, out to rule the world. She becomes a double agent, working with the real C.I.A. to bring down SD-6 with the assistance of her handler, Michael Vaughn, and her estranged father Jack Bristow, also a double agent. Along the way, Sydney fights various rival agents, rival terrorist groups, and traitors all the while keeping her cloak-and-dagger lifestyle a secret from her friends. (Season 1)

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Plot Keywords:

cia | double agent | terrorist | college | terrorist group | 

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Taglines:

Expect More. Alias

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Bulgarian Arabic Cantonese French German Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Indonesian Italian Japanese Portuguese Romanian Russian Spanish Thai Ukrainian Uzbek Dutch

Release Date:

30 September 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

Alias

Filming Locations:

U.S. Bank Tower - 633 W. Fifth Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Touchstone Television, Bad Robot

Technical Specs

Runtime:

42 min (105 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

Five different actresses have played Sydney's mother. Arabella Holzbog played Laura Bristow in a picture Sydney kept. Kate Anthony was the voice of Irina Derevko in the video clip shown in season one, episode nineteen, "Snowman". Natasha Pavlovich is the woman we actually see as Irina Derevko in that video clip. April Webster played Irina when she walks up to Sydney at the end of season one, episode twenty-two, "Almost Thirty Years". Finally, Lena Olin played Irina Derevko in the second season and beyond. Additionally, in season four, episode eighteen, "Mirage", Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) briefly portrayed her mother (Laura Bristow) so they can learn information from her father.

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Goofs

In many of the episodes when Sydney visits other "countries", one can identify that filming took place in the US because of American telephones, traffic lights, types of signage, types of cars, architecture, door frames and door knobs in the background. Those are subtle for the most part but people living in the countries depicted feel that "something isn't quite right".

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Quotes

Jack: [during Sydney's hallucination] Shh. Don't talk. You can't imagine how much I hate it when you talk. I had a desperate need to stop her voice from ringing in my ears. What torments me now is that every time I look at you, I see your mother's face.

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Crazy Credits

All episodes end with the word "ALIAS" appearing on the screen, except for the final episode of the final season in which the message "Thank you for five wonderful years" appears on screen instead.

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Alternate Versions

In the UK the sixty minute version aired when premiered on Channel 4, but because of the early time slot of the show (5:30pm) cuts to violence were made. The scenes in Taipei were Sydney is tortured were all cut and we only see this section of the episode when the flashbacks end and the episode's timeline catches up with the character in Taipei. Throughtout the series' duration on Channel 4, cuts were made frequently to the violence and sometimes bad language.

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Connections

Referenced in Alan Partridge Presents: The Cream of British Comedy (2005)

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Soundtracks

Alias Theme
(uncredited)
Written by J.J. Abrams
Performed by Michael Giacchino

User Reviews

Will be remembered as a JG time capsule..

Give or take, Garner was 30 years old when Alias hit the big screen and there was no turning back for her.

Have heard so many different stories about how she was "discovered" in Tinseltown that I do not know which to believe.

What I do know is that, for a period of time, JG was the new "it girl", she could do no wrong, and audiences simply could not get enough of her.

Alias, which ran for 5 years, was simply an OK premise taken to heights of high-camp based solely on the star power of Garner.

She was hot, she could act, she could do stunts, she had great reaction shots, and she made it all seem so easy. Even her film roles in his period are worth a look (which is another section of the IMDb entirely).

Recommended for teenage boys of all ages.