Towards a New Frontier

AKA Jessica Marie Alba

Born: 28-Apr-1981
Birthplace: Pomona, CA

Gender: Female
Religion: Roman Catholic
Race or Ethnicity: Multiracial
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Dark Angel

Raised in a military family, Jessica Alba grew up in Mississippi, Texas, and California. She took her first acting lessons at 11, and soon burst out as a gifted actress. Within months, Alba had an agent, and soon she was featured prominently in commercials for JC Penny and Nintendo. At 13, she was hired for a tiny role in Disney’s Camp Nowhere, but her big break came when a girl with a larger role backed out after filming had begun. Alba had similar hair, so recasting her in the more prominent role required few re-shoots. She quickly landed a recurring role on Nickelodeon’s The Secret World of Alex Mack, and at 14, she did a schlocky direct-to-video film with Morgan Fairchild called Venus Rising. On her second TV series, she wore bikinis in the mid-1990s redux of Flipper. She says she received the role on account of her swimming ability.

At 15, she was the pregnant teen in an abysmal Afterschool Special, Too Soon for Jeff with Freddie Prinze, Jr.. She was more lifelike as one of the high school kids in Never Been Kissed with Drew Barrymore, and as the object of Devon Sawa’s affections in Idle Hands. In James Cameron’s Dark Angel, she pouted, kicked ass, and did some genuine acting as the “genetically enhanced” Max Guevara for two enjoyable years. She has since starred on the big screen as Sarawak tribal translator in The Sleeping Dictionary, as a hip-hop dancer in Honey, and as a stripper in Sin City. In Fantastic Four, she was the invisible woman, Susan Storm.

Father: Mark Alba (real estate agent)
Mother: Cathy Jensen (housewife)
Brother: Joshua Alba (actor, b. 8-Jul-1982)
Boyfriend: Michael Weatherly (Dark Angel costar, engaged May-2001, broken 2003)

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