Jessica Alba

Early life Alba was born in Pomona California to Catherine Alba ne Jensen and Mark Alba Her mother is of Danish and French Canadian descent and her father is Mexican American though both of his parents were born in California on the December 1 2009 episode of Lopez Tonight George Lopez announced that a DNA test showed Alba to be 87 European and 13 Indigenous American She has a younger brother Joshua Her father s Air Force career took the family to Biloxi Mississippi and Del Rio Texas before settling back in California when she was nine years old Alba described her family as being a very conservative family traditional Catholic Latin American family and herself as very liberal she says she had identified herself as a feminist as early as age five Alba s early life was marked by a multitude of physical maladies During childhood she suffered from collapsed lungs twice had pneumonia 4 5 times a year as well as a ruptured appendix and a tonsillar cyst Alba became isolated from other children at school because she was in the hospital so often due to her illnesses that no one knew her well enough to befriend her Alba has also had asthma since she was a child Alba has said that her family s frequent moving also contributed to her isolation from her peers She has also acknowledged that she has suffered from obsessive compulsive disorder during her childhood Alba graduated from high school at age 16 and she subsequently attended the Atlantic Theater Company Career Alba at the premiere for The Eye in 2008 Alba expressed interest in acting since the age of five In 1992 the 11 year old Alba persuaded her mother to take her to an acting competition in Beverly Hills California whose grand prize was free acting classes Alba won the grand prize and took her first acting lessons An agent signed Alba nine months later 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 in a leading role when one of the prominent actresses dropped out Alba appeared in two national television commercials for Nintendo and J C Penney as a child She was later featured in several independent films She branched out into television in 1994 with a recurring role as the vain 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 television 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 Alba graduated from high school she 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 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 television series Dark Angel Co created by Cameron the series starred Alba and ran for two seasons until 2002 earning her critical acclaim as well as a Golden Globe nomination Alba later revealed that she had suffered from an eating disorder while in preparation for Dark Angel Alba on the set of Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer Alba has been well received in popular culture She received the Teen Choice Award for Choice Actress and Saturn Award for Best Actress TV for her role in Dark Angel She has frequently appeared on Maxim s Hot 100 list In 2006 Alba received an MTV Movie Award for Sexiest Performance for Sin City Her acting has also drawn criticism however as she was nominated for a 2007 Razzie Award for Worst Actress for her performances in Awake Good Luck Chuck and Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer She was also nominated for the same award in 2005 for her performances in Fantastic Four and Into the Blue Alba s most notable film roles have included an aspiring dancer choreographer in Honey exotic dancer Nancy Callahan in Sin City and as the Marvel Comics character Sue Storm the Invisible Woman in Fantastic Four of which movie critic Mick LaSalle said that her performance while talking for long periods of time was on shaky ground She then appeared in its sequel in Into the Blue later that year and Good Luck Chuck a few years later Alba 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 In February she hosted the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Science and Technical Awards Alba has been represented by talent agents Patrick Whitesell and Brad Cafarelli In 2008 Alba made her acting transition to the horror film genre in The Eye a remake of the Hong Kong original The film was released on February 1 2008 Though the film was not well received by critics Alba s performance was both positively and negatively received Alba won a Teen Choice for Choice Movie Actress Horror Thriller and a Razzie Award for Worst Actress nomination Also in 2008 Alba starred alongside Mike Myers and Justin Timberlake in box office bomb The Love Guru Both the film and Alba s performance were panned by critics Alba was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Actress In late 2008 Alba signed on to star as the lead role in An Invisible Sign of My Own The movie finished filming in November 2008 The film is in post production and set to be released in 2010 Ugly Betty star America Ferrera was originally set to star as the lead but had to pull out due to filming commitments with her television show Ugly Betty Alba starred alongside Kate Hudson and Casey Affleck in the film adaption of the book of the same name The Killer Inside Me In the movie Alba played Joyce Lakeland a prostitute The film is set to be released in 2010 Also in 2010 Alba starred in the romantic comedy Valentine s Day alongside Julia Roberts Anne Hathaway Jessica Biel Emma Roberts Ashton Kutcher and Jennifer Garner The film was released on February 12 2010 Public image Cover of the March 2006 issue of Playboy magazine Alba objected to being on the cover of the magazine and filed suit but later dropped the action In 2001 Alba was ranked No 1 on Maxim magazine s Hot 100 list She said that I have to go to certain lengths to use sexuality to my advantage while guiding people to thinking the way I want them to In 2005 Alba was named one of People magazine s 50 Most Beautiful People and also appeared in the magazine s 100 Most Beautiful list in 2007 In 2002 Alba was voted as the fifth Sexiest Female Star for 2002 in a Hollywood com poll 4 in the Top 10 Sci Fi Babes 6 in FHM s Sexiest Girls for there poll and ranked at 12 in Stuff magazine s 102 Sexiest Women in the World 2002 edition In 2005 Alba was ranked at 5 on the Maxim magazine s Hot 100 list On the cover of the March 2006 issue Playboy magazine named Alba among its 25 Sexiest Celebrities and the Sex Star of the Year 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 When reports surfaced that a 21 year old Chinese girl was seeking plastic surgery to resemble Alba in order to win back an ex boyfriend the star spoke out against the perceived need to change one s appearance for love Alba at the 2007 Spike TV Awards In 2006 Alba ranked 3 on E Television s 101 Sexiest Celebrity Bodies In 2006 readers of AskMen com voted Alba No 1 on 99 Most Desirable Women while in 2007 Maxim Magazine placed Alba on the number 2 spot of their Top 100 Both GQ and In Style had Alba on their June covers and in May after eight million votes FHM UK and USA editions named Alba the winner as 2007 Sexiest Woman in the World Alba has been regarded as one of the world s most attractive women being named to Maxim s Hot 100 in 2008 In 2007 Alba was ranked in at 1 in FHM s Sexiest Girls of 2007 poll in the magazine s Latvian edition Alba was ranked 4 on Empire Magazine s 100 Sexiest Movie Stars in 2007 In 2006 and 2007 Alba was voted 1 as the most sexy woman in the world by the Norwegian FHM Alba appeared in the 2009 Campari calendar Campari printed 9 999 copies of the calendar featuring photos of Alba posing sexually in swimsuits and high heels In 2008 Alba was ranked 34 on Maxim magazine s Hot 100 list was ranked 2 on Wizard magazine s Sexiest Women of TV list and was named in GQ Magazine one of the 25 Sexiest Women in film of all time I think there are ambitious girls who will do anything to be famous and they think men in this business are used to women doing that Contrary to how people may feel I ve never used my sexuality That s not part of it for me When I m in a meeting I want to tell you why I m an asset how I m a commodity how I can put asses in the seats not There s a chance you re going to be able to f me That s never been my deal lba on not using her sex appeal in order to get her goals in her acting career 2008 Alba fears being typecast as a sex kitten based on the bulk of parts offered to her commenting Somehow I don t think this is happening to Natalie Portman In the interview Alba said 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 Alba also maintains a strict no nudity clause in her contract She was given the option to appear nude in Sin City by the film s directors Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez but declined the offer saying I don t do nudity I just don t Maybe that makes me a bad actress Maybe I won t get hired in some things But I have too much anxiety She remarked of a GQ shoot in which she was scantily clad They didn t want me to wear the granny panties but I said If I m gonna be topless I need to wear granny panties Personal life Religion Alba was raised as a Christian in the Catholic denomination throughout her teenage years but left the church after four years because she felt she was being judged for her appearance explaining Older men would hit on me and my youth pastor said it was because I was wearing provocative clothing when I wasn t It just made me feel like if I was in any way desirable to the opposite sex that it was my fault and it made me ashamed of my body and being a woman Alba also had objections to the church s condemnations of premarital sex and homosexuality and the lack of strong female role models in the Bible explaining I thought it was a nice guide but it certainly wasn t how I was going to live my life Her religious devotion began to wane at the age of 15 when she guest starred as a teenager with gonorrhea in the throat in a 1996 episode of the television series Chicago Hope Her friends at church reacted negatively to her role making her lose faith in the church However she has stated that she still holds her belief in God despite leaving the church Relationships Alba in 2007 at the London Premiere of the Fantastic Four While filming Dark Angel in January 2000 Alba began a three year relationship with her co star Michael Weatherly which caused controversy due to their 12 year age gap Weatherly proposed to Alba on her twentieth birthday which she accepted In August 2003 Alba and Weatherly announced that they d ended their relationship In July 2007 Alba spoke out about the break up saying I don t know why I got engaged I was a virgin He was 12 years older than me I thought he knew better My parents weren t happy They re really religious They believe God wouldn t allow the Bible to be written if it wasn t what they are supposed to believe I m completely different Alba had at one time said she envisioned a much older man as her ideal partner making references to Morgan Freeman Sean Connery Robert Redford and Michael Caine She said I have this thing for older men They ve been around and know so much Alba