Biography:
Jessica AlbaEarly life
Jessica Alba was born in Pomona, California, to Mark Alba (who is of Mexican descent), and Catherine Jensen (who is of French and Danish ancestry).Her maternal grandfather was a Marine noncom for 30 years, serving in the Pacific during WWII, and later as Asst. Drum Major for the United States Marine Band. Alba was raised in an Air Force family, along with her brother, Joshua, an actor who appeared with her in the season one finale of Dark Angel, and her grandparents until she was 17 years old. Her father's Air Force career took the family to Biloxi, Mississippi and Del Rio, Texas, before they settled back in California.
Jessica alba early life was marked by a multitude of physical maladies; jessica alba suffered collapsed lungs twice, had pneumonia 4 to 5 times a year, a burst appendix,
tonsils, and asthma.Jessica alba has also acknowledged suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder during childhood.This served to isolate Jessica alba from other children at school because, as she says, she was in the hospital so often that no one knew her well enough to befriend her.Her health improved, however, when her family moved to California.
Career:Jessica alba
Jessica alba had expressed interest in acting since the age of five. Jessica alba took her first acting class at age twelve, and an acting agent signed her nine months later.[citation needed] Her first appearance on film was a small role in the 1994 feature Camp Nowhere as Gail. She was originally hired for two weeks but her role turned into a two month job when the actress in one of the prominent roles dropped out.
Jessica alba appeared in two national TV commercials for Nintendo and J.C. Penney; Jessica alba was later featured in several independent films.Jessica alba branched out into TV in 1994 with a recurring role as the young snob, Jessica, in three episodes of the Nickelodeon comedy series The Secret World of Alex Mack. She then performed the role of Maya in the first two seasons of the TV series Flipper. Under the tutelage of her lifeguard mother, Alba learned to swim before she could walk, and she was a PADI-certified scuba diver, skills which were put to use on the show, which was filmed in Australia.
In 1998, she appeared as Melissa Hauer in a first-season episode of the Steven Bochco crime-drama Brooklyn South, as Leanne in two episodes of Beverly Hills 90210 and as Layla in an episode of The Love Boat: The Next Wave. In 1999, she appeared in the Randy Quaid comedy feature P.U.N.K.S..
After graduating from high school, Jessica alba studied acting with William H. Macy and his wife, Felicity Huffman, at the Atlantic Theater Company, which was developed by Macy and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and film director, David Mamet.
Jessica alba rose to greater prominence in Hollywood in 1999 after appearing as a member of a snobby high school clique in the Drew Barrymore romantic comedy Never Been Kissed, and as the female lead in the 1999 comedy-horror film Idle Hands, opposite Devon Sawa. Her big break came when writer/director James Cameron picked Alba from a pool of 1,200 candidates for the role of the genetically-engineered super-soldier, Max Guevara, on the FOX sci-fi TV series Dark Angel. Co-created by Cameron, Alba was the star in the series which ran for two seasons before being canceled in 2002. Since then her most notable roles have been as an aspiring dancer-choreographer in Honey, exotic dancer Nancy Callahan in Sin City and as the classic Marvel Comics character Sue Storm, the Invisible Woman in the Fantastic Four. Jessica went on to host the 2006 MTV Movie Awards and performed sketches spoofing the movies King Kong, Mission Impossible 3, and The Da Vinci Code.
Alba on the controversial cover of the March 2006 issue of Playboy magazine.
New Jessica Alba photo
Alba on the controversial cover of the March 2006 issue of Playboy magazine.
Playboy magazine named Alba among its 25 Sexiest Celebrities, and the Sex Star of the Year in its March 2006 issue, on whose cover she appeared. Alba was involved in litigation against Playboy for its use of her image (from a promotional shot for Into the Blue) without her consent, which she contends gave the appearance that she was featured in the issue in a "nude pictorial". However, she later dropped the lawsuit after receiving a personal apology from Playboy owner Hugh Hefner who agreed to make donations to two charities that Alba has supported.
Also, Maxim placed Alba on the number 2 spot of their "Top 100" in 2007. The article can be seen here.
Apparently, Alba fears being typecast as a sex kitten based on the bulk of parts offered to her."Somehow, I don't think this is happening to Natalie Portman," laments Alba. In the interview, Alba says she wants to be taken seriously as an actress but believes she needs to do movies that she would otherwise not be interested in to build her career, stating that eventually she hopes to be more selective in her film projects.
