Jessica Alba

Jessica Marie Alba is an American actress and businesswoman born on April 28, 1981, in Pomona, California. She rose to prominence at age 19 for portraying Max Guevara in the television series Dark Angel (2000–2002), earning a Golden Globe nomination. She achieved her cinematic breakthrough shortly after with the lead role in Honey (2003). Over her career, she has starred in numerous box office hits, including Fantastic Four (2005) and its 2007 sequel, Good Luck Chuck (2007), The Eye (2008), Valentine's Day (2010), Little Fockers (2010), and Mechanic: Resurrection (2016).

Alba was raised by Catherine Louisa Alba and Mark David Alba alongside a younger brother. Her mother's ancestry includes Danish, English, French, German, and Welsh roots, while her father has Mexican and Sephardic Jewish ancestry. Her father's Air Force career relocated the family to Mississippi and Texas before they settled in Claremont, California, when she was nine. As a child, Alba suffered from recurring health issues, including pneumonia, partially collapsed lungs, a ruptured appendix, a tonsillar cyst, and asthma. She graduated from Claremont High School at age 16 and studied acting at the Atlantic Theater Company.

Interested in acting from age five, Alba won an acting competition at age eleven, securing free lessons and an agent. She made her screen debut in the 1994 film Camp Nowhere and held recurring roles in television series such as The Secret World of Alex Mack and Flipper. After appearances in Brooklyn South, Beverly Hills, 90210, and Love Boat: The Next Wave, Alba gained broader recognition in 1999 through roles in the romantic comedy Never Been Kissed and the comedy horror film Idle Hands.

Her lead role in Dark Angel brought her critical acclaim, a Saturn Award, and a Teen Choice Award. She expanded into major feature films, portraying Nancy Callahan in Robert Rodriguez's Sin City (2005) and Marvel character Invisible Woman in Fantastic Four (2005). Alba collaborated frequently with Rodriguez, appearing in Sin City (2005), Machete (2010), Spy Kids: All the Time in the World (2011), Machete Kills (2013), and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014).

Throughout the late 2000s and 2010s, Alba starred in films across various genres, including Awake (2007), The Killer Inside Me (2010), Valentine's Day (2010), Little Fockers (2010), A.C.O.D. (2013), Dear Eleanor (2014), Some Kind of Beautiful (2014), Stretch (2014), Barely Lethal (2015), and Mechanic: Resurrection (2016). From 2019 to 2020, she starred in the Spectrum action crime television series L.A.'s Finest.

In 2011, Alba co-founded The Honest Company, a Los Angeles-based business selling baby, personal, and household products. Outside her acting and business ventures, she has been included on lists of the world's most beautiful women by publications such as Men's Health, Vanity Fair, and FHM.