A longtime favorite of frat boys and fan-boys alike, actress Jessica Alba started out in commercials before graduating to the small screen. Her turn as a pre-adolescent mean queen during the 1994-95 season of the children's comedy series, "The Secret World of Alex Mack" (Nickelodeon, 1994-98), helped her land the role of Maya Graham for the first two seasons of "The New Adventures of Flipper" (Synd., 1994-2000). The young star's big break came, however, in 2000 when writer-director James Cameron picked Alba from a pool of over 1,200 candidates for the lead role in his futuristic sci-fi neo-drama, "Dark Angel" (Fox, 2000-02). An eye-pleasing presence on the silver screen since the mid-millennium, Alba picked up a few dubious credits early on in her career - most notably, the bittersweet urban music flop, "Honey" (2003). Alba luckily made a wiser choice, however, when she signed on to play Sue Storm - a.k.a. "The Invisible Girl" - in "Fantastic Four" (2005) - a role she subsequently reprised in 2007's sequel "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer."
Born in Pomona, CA on April 28, 1981, Jessica Marie Alba was the daughter of a Mexican-American father and a French-Danish mother. Alba's early life was marked by a series of unfortunate physical maladies. In addition to asthma, Alba twice suffered from collapsed lungs, a burst appendix and had to endure pneumonia several times a year. This, on top of her obsessive-compulsive disorder, helped serve to isolate her from other schoolchildren. Luckily, her health eventually took a dramatically positive turn a few years later; an improvement Alba credited to her growing interest in acting. Signed by an agent by the age of 12, Alba made her screen debut with "Camp Nowhere."
Alba went on to appear in two national TV commercials for Nintendo and J.C. Penney, which led to her landing 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 Graham in the first two seasons of the TV series, "Flipper" (also known as "The New Adventures of Flipper"). Under the tutelage of her lifeguard mother, Alba learned to swim before she could walk and was a PADI-certified scuba diver - skills which were put to use on the show, which was filmed in Australia. As the fresh-faced, enthusiastic and sweet Maya, the part would provide Alba a nice departure from her previous "mean girl" TV efforts.
An ABC After-School Special entitled "Too Soon for Jeff" aired in 1996, starring Alba as a pregnant teenager and Freddie Prinze, Jr. as her overwhelmed boyfriend. Next, the actress could be seen in some memorable guest performances on television series, including playing a girl smitten with the captain's young son on "Love Boat: The Next Wave" (UPN, 1998-99), a confused teen mother on a two-part episode of "Beverly Hills, 90210" (Fox, 1990-2000), and the daughter of a police officer who identifies another officer as having indecently exposed himself to her in the CBS police drama "Brooklyn South" (CBS, 1998-99). Alba also starred in the little seen children's comedy feature "P.U.N.K.S" (1998). The following year she was featured in two higher profile films - first playing a clique leader in "Never Been Kissed," starring Drew Barrymore as a twenty-something reporter returning to high school for an undercover story; followed by "Idle Hands" (1999), a supernatural thriller starring Devon Sawa and Seth Green. In it, Alba was featured as Sawa's love interest.
Alba's career kicked into high gear in 2000 when she was cast as the genetically perfect Max on James Cameron's post-"Titanic" (1998) TV series, "Dark Angel." Her popularity skyrocketed along with the show's success. In the first season, she was nominated for a Golden Globe and she won the TV Guide Award as Breakout Star of the Year - nevertheless, the very expensive series folded in 2002 despite its devoted core following. It would not be for naught, however. Following the conclusion of "Dark Angel," Alba went public with her engagement to her co-star, Michael Weatherly - who played Logan Cale on the show - but, the celebrated twosome would subsequently break up in 2003.
Alba's opportunities expanded along with her success, following the cancellation of "Dark Angel" - much of it to do with her smoldering Latina looks and toned body. In 2001, she became a spokeswoman for L'Oreal hair products - the Feria line of coloring -and in 2002, she starred in the low-profile film "The Sleeping Dictionary" as a South American woman who falls in love with a British colonialist who visits her village. Her first major bid toward big screen stardom came in the form of "Honey" (2003), a feast of Alba-fueled eye candy but otherwise undistinguished effort aimed at the MTV demographic. In the urban music-fueled film, she played a tough, sexy music video choreographer.
It was her next project that put her on the fan-boy map. In the visually arresting "Sin City" (2005) - directed by Robert Rodriguez and comic book creator Frank Miller - Alba played Nancy Callahan, a sultry, lasso-spinning pole dancer with an unexpected past in the segment, "That Yellow Bastard." Following that sexy foray, it was announced that she was cast as Sue Storm - better known as the Invisible Girl - in the big-screen, big-budget adaptation of the classic Stan Lee-Jack Kirby Marvel Comic, "The Fantastic Four" (2005). Although Alba gamely tackled the role, her efforts were largely undermined by a lack of chemistry with co-star/love interest Ioan Gruffudd and the film's wildly uneven quality. Alba's third film of 2005, the underwater diving drama "Into the Blue" (2005) opposite Paul Walker, was distinguished primarily by its stunning scenery - primarily the gorgeous backdrop of the Bahamas - and Alba's frequently bikini-clad body, which made her status as Hollywood's breakout sex symbol of 2005 complete.
Next up were sequels to "Sin City" and "Awake" (2007), a thriller about a surgery patient (Hayden Christensen) who overhears a plot for his murder while under anesthesia. Alba reprised her role as the Invisible Girl in "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" and returned to comedy to star opposite Dane Cook as a clumsy penguin trainer in "Good Luck Chuck" (2007). She took star billing in the actioner "The Eye" (2008) a remake of a 2002 Hong Kong thriller about a blind woman who regains her sight, only to discover her visions are actually those of the past. In the spring of 2008, the 27-year-old actress gave birth to her first child, a daughter with husband Cash Warren, and remained in the news for the June release of "The Love Guru" (2008). The Mike Myers comedy about a mystical self-help figure co-starred Alba as his comic straight-woman and level-headed love interest. |
