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Early life and family
Alba was born in Pomona, California, the daughter of Catherine (née
Jensen), who is Danish American on her father's side and French American
on her mother's side, and Mark Alba, who is Mexican American (though
both of his parents were born in California). Alba's parents married
while in their teenage years. Her maternal grandfather was a Marine NCO
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 and her grandparents, until
she was seventeen years old. Her father's Air Force career took the
family to Biloxi, Mississippi and Del Rio, Texas, before they settled
back in California.
Alba's early life was marked by a multitude of physical maladies; she
suffered collapsed lungs twice, had pneumonia 4-5 times a year, a
ruptured appendix, and a cyst on her tonsils. This isolated her from
other children at school because, as she claims, she was in the hospital
so often that no one knew her well enough to befriend her.
She has also acknowledged suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder
during childhood. Her health improved, however, when her family moved to
California. She graduated from high school at age 16, and subsequently
attended the Atlantic Theater Company.
Career
Early career
Alba had expressed interest in acting since the age of five. She took
her first acting class at age twelve, and an acting agent signed her
nine months later.
Alba at the 2007 Spike TV Scream Awards.
Alba at the 2007 Spike TV Scream Awards.
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.
Alba appeared in two national TV commercials for Nintendo and J.C.
Penney as a child; she was later featured in several independent films.
She branched out into TV 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 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, 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.
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, the series starred Alba, and ran for two seasons
until 2002, earning her critical acclaim as well as a Golden-Globe
nomination.
During preparation for Dark Angel, in which Alba trained for three hours
every day, the actress began to starve herself and became obsessed with
exercise, going on to say, "A lot of girls have eating disorders and I
did too. I got obsessed with it." Alba recalls coming to a realization
that she had a problem when she dropped to just 100 lbs and cites her
natural introduction to puberty and her development of womanly curves as
two things that caused her "concern" regarding her aesthetics. Alba, who
also suffered from obsessive compulsive disorder and panic attacks, says
she has been cooking for herself since the age of twelve, in fear she
will end up as fat as her family members.
Film career
Since then her most notable roles have included 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's pending projects include The
Eye (a remake of the Hong Kong original) and Sisters, alongside Eliska
Amor and Paz Vega.
Public image
Reception
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.
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 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", after Lindsay Lohan. 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’s Sexiest Woman in the
World".
Alba has received successful public reception in popular culture. In
2001 Alba received a Teen Choice Award for Choice Actress for her role
in Dark Angel. In 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007, Alba appeared on
Maxim's Hot 100 list. In 2006, Alba received an MTV Movie Award for
"Sexiest Performance" for Sin City. In 2007, Alba received the Spike TV
Guys' Choice Award for "Hottest Jessica".
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.
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.
Charity
Alba's charity work includes participation with Clothes Off Our Back,
Habitat for Humanity, National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children, Project HOME, RADD, Revlon Run/Walk for Women, SOS Children
Villages, Soles4Souls, and Step up.
Personal life
Alba was raised Catholic and still considers herself "spiritual". In her
adolescence, she became a born-again Christian, 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. ”
As the daughter of religiously conservative parents, Alba, whose
grandparents did not allow her to wear a bathing suit around the house,
maintains a no-nudity clause in her contract, though she has claimed she
had been open to the possibility of appearing nude in Sin City. 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' ".
Alba was given the option to appear nude 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".
Of her mixed heritage, and perceptions of her ethnicity, Alba has said:
“
I've got cousins galore. Mexicans just spread all their seeds. And the
women just pop them out. My grandfather was the only Mexican at his
college, the only Hispanic person at work and the only one at the
all-white country club. He tried to forget his Mexican roots, because he
never wanted his kids to be made to feel different in America. He and my
grandmother didn't speak Spanish to their children. Now, as a
third-generation American, I feel as if I have finally cut loose. My
whole life, when I was growing up, not one race has ever accepted me,
... So I never felt connected or attached to any race specifically. I
had a very American upbringing, I feel American, and I don't speak
Spanish. So, to say that I'm a Latin actress, OK, but it's not fitting;
it would be insincere. My grandfather was the only one in our family to
go to college. He made a choice not to speak Spanish in the house. He
didn't want his kids to be different. I always felt like such an outcast
and now I feel like people are more diverse ethnically. I was always of
my puffy lips and darker skin when I was a kid, because I felt like I
didn't fit in. And now its mainstream, and color isn't as big of a deal
and if anything, it's better.
”
Relationships
While filming Dark Angel, Alba began a four year romance with fellow
castmate Michael Weatherly, which caused controversy due to their 12
year age gap. He proposed to her on her 20th birthday. They eventually
broke up after a four-year relationship. In July 2007, Jessica spoke out
about the break up. "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 be
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. "I have this thing for older men. They've
been around and know so much." Regarding children, Alba said, "I'm
really girly when it comes to kids. I've been surrounded by kids my
whole life because I'm the oldest of 15 cousins — I've been changing
diapers since I was six. I want to have a couple, for sure".
Alba is engaged to Cash Warren (son of actor Michael Warren), whom she
met while making Fantastic Four in 2004. She is expecting their first
child in early spring or summer of 2008.
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