Jessica Marie Alba was born on April 28, 1981, in Pomona, California. The aspiring actress relocated with her family (her Spanish/Mexican-American father was in the Air Force) several times before finally settling down in southern California. The Alba family moved to Biloxi, Mississippi, then back to California, followed by Del Rio, Texas, and finally back to the West Coast.
Despite constantly moving across the U.S., Jessica Alba knew she wanted to be an actress from the age of 5. Her career was ready to take off when an agent signed her a mere nine months after 12-year-old Jessica took an acting class. Jessica Alba's first film role in the 1994 film Camp Nowhere came to her by chance. She was cast with a bit part in the film after one of the characters dropped out of the production. Dark-haired Jessica was cast as the replacement, thanks to the fact that her hair matched that of the original actress. She then ventured into smaller projects on the small screen with commercials for Nintendo and JC Penney, and a recurring role in Nickelodeon's The Secret World of Alex Mack in 1994. Following her Nickelodeon stint, Jessica Alba, also a PADI-certified scuba diver, was cast as Maya in the 1995 series Flipper. During production of Flipper, Jessica was actually kidnapped after having received telephone threats. Thankfully, she was found unharmed in the trunk of a car. While working with dolphins on the television series, Jessica Alba was cast in the disastrous film Venus Rising, as well as the 1996 made-for-TV movie Too Soon for Jeff and an episode of Chicago Hope.
1998 was filled with many television show appearances, including a recurring role on the prime-time soap Beverly Hills, 90210, Brooklyn South and The Love Boat: The Next Wave. As for film, audiences caught Jessica Alba in P.U.N.K.S. (aka Rebels), Never Been Kissed, costarring Drew Barrymore, and Idle Hands, costarring Vivica Fox.
With Jessica Alba's growing popularity on the internet after her role in Flipper, along with her exotic looks (Jessica's ethnic background consists of Danish, French and Mexican), it's no wonder that James Cameron cast her as the lead role in his television series Dark Angel. These traits, of course, are bonuses next to the fact that she can act. Jessica Alba has been featured in Teen Magazine and Vanity Fair, and was nominated for a Golden Globe in 2001 for Best Actress in a Dramatic Television Series. After a long engagement to her older costar Michael Weatherly (Logan on Dark Angel) from 2001 to 2003, Jessica Alba was spotted with Mark Wahlberg and even made a cameo on Wahlberg's show Entourage in 2004.
The L'Oreal model (Jessica Alba is a Feria hair color spokesperson) returned to the scene with the title role in 2003's Honey. No one can forget the incredibly sexy moves Miss Alba learned for her role in the dance-centric flick. After her role as stripper Nancy Callahan in 2005's Sin City, Jessica Alba was seen in Into the Blue (2005) with Paul Walker and Ashley Scott. She also played the classic Marvel Comics character Sue Storm (the Invisible Woman) in the movie Fantastic Four (2005). 2006 was one filled with accolades, not for Jessica Alba's acting talents but more for her undeniable beauty. She was voted No. 1 in AskMen.com's 99 Most Desirable Women list, and she appeared on the cover of the March 2006 issue of Playboy. After Hef's publication used a promo shot for Into The Blue of Jessica without her consent, she pressed and later dropped charges after receiving a personal apology from Hugh Hefner who agreed to donate money to two of her favorite charities.
[ biography courtesy of AskMen.com ]
