Jessica Marie Alba was born on April 28, 1981 in Pomona, California to Catherine and Mark Alba. Her father is Mexican American and her mother is of Danish descent. Jessica’s parents married while still teenagers. She relocated several times with her family because her father worked in the Air Force, finally settling down in southern California. The family moved to Biloxi, Mississippi, then back to California, then again moved to Del Rio, Texas, and finally back to the West Coast.
Jessica suffered from a multitude of physical maladies when she was young. She suffered collapsed lungs twice, had pneumonia 4-5 times a year, a ruptured appendix, and a cyst on her tonsils. She also suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder. Her poor physical condition initially isolated her from other children at school. She was in the hospital a lot of times and no one knew her well enough to befriend her. But her health improved when they moved back to California. When she was sixteen years old, she graduated from high school and went on to attend the Atlantic Theater Company.
The pretty Latin actress has expressed an interest in acting at a very young age. When she was twelve years old, she took her first acting class. An acting agent signed her after only nine months in acting class. Her first film role was in the 1994 “Camp Nowhere”. She was originally hired for a small role but was cast as the replacement for a bigger part when one of the actresses dropped out of the production. By virtue of her dark hair, which was the same shade as that of the other actress, she got the part. Her original two week shooting turned into a two-month job.
After “Camp Nowhere”, Jessica turned into several small independent films. She also made TV commercial stints for Nintendo J.C. Penney. She became part of the television series “The Secret World of Alex Mack” as the vain Jessica. She appeared in three episodes of the popular Nickelodeon comedy series.
She followed her recurring Nickelodeon role with a more stable one when she was cast as Maya in the 1995 series “Flipper”. She learned to swim before she could walk, thanks to her mother who was a lifeguard. She is a PADI-certified scuba diver and she put her skills into good use as Maya in the series. She got to travel to Australia where most of the shooting for “Flipper” was done. Unfortunately, a kidnapping incident actually happened during one of her shoots. Thankfully, the young actress was later found unharmed inside the trunk of a car.
The upcoming actress got more recognition in Hollywood when she appeared in the Drew Barrymore starrer, “Never Been Kissed”, and when she was cast as the female lead in the 1999 comedy-horror flick “Idle Hands”, opposite Devon Sawa. But her break came when superstar writer/director James Cameron picked her from a pool of 1,200 candidates for the lead role in his sci-fi television series “Dark Angel”. Jessica was cast as the genetically-engineered super soldier Max Guevara. Her performance earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Dramatic Television Series. Her acting skills got critical acclaim and the young star is on the way to becoming a bigger celebrity in Hollywood.
The star blossomed into one of the most beautiful actresses in Hollywood and was constantly receiving praise and recognition for her looks. In 2006, Jessica was voted as No.1 in Askmen.com’s 99 Most Desirable Women. In 2007, she was second in Maxim’s Top 100 behind Lindsay Lohan. Also that year, after receiving eight million votes, she was crowned as “2007’s Sexiest Woman in the World” by both the UK and USA editions of the popular men’s magazine FHM. She got awarded with MTV Movie Awards’ “Sexiest Performance” for “Sin City”. And she also received the Spike TV Guys’ Choice Award for “Hottest Jessica” in 2007. But her emergence as one of Hollywood’s hottest celebrities got her involved in litigation against Playboy when the magazine used a promotional shot for “Into the Blue” as a cover without the actress’ permission. Playboy named Jessica among the top 25 Sexiest Celebrities and as the Sex Star of the Year in that issue. She said the issue gave the appearance that she appeared in a nude pictorial for the magazine. She later dropped the lawsuit when Playboy owner Hugh Hefner sent her a personal apology and agreed to make donations to two charities that the actress supports.
Jessica Alba was raised as a Catholic by her religiously conservative parents and in her adolescence, she became a born-again Christian. She left after four years because she felt she was being judged for her appearance when several older men hit on her. She maintains a no-nudity clause in her contract but considered the possibility of appearing nude in “Sin City”. She declined after some thought, “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 was also the subject in a GQ photo shoot where she was dressed scantily.
In her personal life, the actress revealed she has a penchant for older men. “I have this thing for older men. They’ve been around and know so much,” the actress revealed. While filming “Dark Angel”, she got involved with her fellow castmate Michael Weatherly who was twelve years older than her. They remained steady for four years but eventually broke up. She is presently engaged to Cash Warren and they are expecting their first child. They met while filming “Fantastic Four”. The actress was reportedly studying Spanish with the intention of speaking only that language to her child once he or she is born. She never spoke Spanish as a child, a result of her grandfather’s determination to not let his children feel different in America.
