The “Sin City” actress, who is a Golden Globe Award nomination recipient and a successful businesswoman, turns 35 on April 28, 2016.
Alba was born in 1981 in Pomona, California. She started taking acting classes when she was 12 years old, and debuted on the silver screen with “Camp Nowhere” (1994). The same year, she also bagged a minor role in the TV series “The Secret World of Alex Mack.”
She then played a free-spirited teenager forming a special bond with a dolphin in the adventure series “Flipper” (1995-1997). A trained scuba diver, she put her skills to good use in the show.
Following minor roles in television series including “Brooklyn South” (1998) and “Beverly Hills, 90210” (1998), Alba bagged her first major movie role in “Never Been Kissed” (1999). She played a snobbish high-school girl in this romantic comedy, alongside Drew Barrymore and David Arquette.
(Pictured L-R) Jessica Alba, Marley Shelton, Jordan Ladd, and Drew Barrymore.
In 2000, the young actress landed her breakthrough role in the science-fiction series “Dark Angel.” Directed by James Cameron, Alba portrayed a genetically engineered soldier named Max Guevara — a role which won her a Saturn Award and a Golden Globe nomination.
Alba was seen in two divergent roles in her 2003 films “The Sleeping Dictionary” and “Honey” (pictured). In the former, she played an Iban tribeswoman, while in the latter, she portrayed a young, urban choreographer.
In 2005, she shared screen space with veteran actors like Bruce Willis (R) and Mickey Rourke in “Sin City.” She received a Saturn Award nomination for her performance in this blockbuster crime-thriller.
Alba debuted in the superhero genre with the 2005 film “Fantastic Four” (pictured), based on the Marvel Comic of the same name. She played Sue Storm, who has the power to render herself invisible. The movie’s box-office success spawned the sequel “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” (2007), where Alba reprised her role.
The actress ended 2005 with yet another action thriller, “Into the Blue,” featuring alongside the late Paul Walker, Josh Brolin, and Scott Caan, but the film failed to impress at the box office.
After playing the lead in a handful of romantic comedies including “Good Luck Chuck” (2007) and “The Ten” (2007), the actress tried her hands at the horror genre with “The Eye” (2008) (pictured). She played a blind violinist, who encounters terrifying visions after a cornea transplant.
In 2010 we saw the actress portraying a wide array of roles in different movies: “Valentine’s Day,” “The Killer Inside Me” (pictured), “Machete,” “An Invisible Sign,” and “Little Fockers.” She shared screen time with Robert De Niro in both “Machete” and “Little Fockers.”
Alba starred in the fourth instalment of the “Spy Kids” series in 2011 – “Spy Kids: All the Time in the World 4D” (pictured). In 2013, she voiced the character Lena Thackleman in the animation film “Escape from Planet Earth.”
The actress turned entrepreneur in 2012, when she launched The Honest Company, a range of toxin-free household goods and body care products.
Alba reprised her role as Nancy Callahan in the “Sin City” sequel — “Sin City: A Dame to Kill For” (pictured) — in 2014. The same year, she followed up with the crime comedy “Stretch” and the romantic comedy “Some Kind of Beautiful.”
In 2015, she appeared in three films — “Barely Lethal,” “Entourage,” and “Baby, Baby, Baby.” She also made a cameo appearance in the super hit Taylor Swift music video “Bad Blood,” along side Gigi Hadid, Karlie Kloss, Selena Gomez, Cara Delevingne, and Kendrick Lamar, among others.
The supernatural thriller, “The Veil” (2016), was Alba’s most recent screen outing. She will be seen next in the adventure drama “Dear Eleanor” and the crime thriller “Mechanic: Resurrection.”
16/16 SLIDES
Jessica Alba says “trying to be the best mum” helps her run her business.
The 38-year-old actress is mother to Honor, 11, Haven, eight, and Hayes, two, and has said navigating life as a parent to three children has helped her learn important skills that she also uses to successfully run her Honest Company business, which she founded in 2011.
She said: “I actually think that being a mum and trying to be the best mum, a lot of those same lessons that I’ve learned are what I try to apply when running my business. It’s more about who you surround yourself with. The goal you end up reaching is great, you’re only thinking of the next challenge you’re wanting to do and the next goal you want to overachieve and what will come. It’s hard not to be totally and completely overwhelmed.”
Jessica – who has her children with her husband Cash Warren – got the inspiration for her business when she was pregnant with Honor, after she suffered from an allergic reaction while using laundry detergent marketed to babies.
The Honest Company makes products that are “honestly safe” for babies, and Jessica strives to create “healthier and better options” for her consumers.
Speaking at the Create & Cultivate Los Angeles Conference over the weekend, the ‘LA’s Finest’ star said: “[I thought], ‘I’m going to create the solution by making products that are made from ingredients you can understand.’ We try to formulate the most plant-based ingredient as possible using science … It does cost a little bit more money to make and develop those products but I thought, the more people that have the option for a healthier and better option, making it affordable and accessible, then hopefully it will bring the cost down for these products.”
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