Jessica Alba Biography

Jessica Alba is an American actress, businesswoman, and entrepreneur who gained fame for starring in a leading role in Dark Angel at age 19 from 2000 to 2002. Her role in the series earned her a nomination at the Golden Globe Awards.

Jessica Alba Age

Alba was born Jessica Marie Alba on April 28, 1981, in Pomona, California, U.S.A. She is 43 years old as of 2024. Alba celebrates her birthday every April 28th.

Jessica Alba Height

Alba stands at an approximate height of 5 feet and 7 inches.

Jessica Alba Family

Alba was born to Catherine Louisa (née Jensen) and Mark David Alba. She is Danish, Welsh, German, English, and French on her mother’s side. Her paternal grandparents were born in California to Mexican immigrants. Besides Alba, Catherine and Mark had a son named Joshua and Steve.

Mark worked in the Air Force, taking the family to Biloxi, Mississippi, and Del Rio, Texas, before settling in Claremont, California when she was nine years old. According to Alba, her family is a very conservative, traditional, Catholic Latin American family while she is very liberal, having identified herself as a feminist as early as when she was 5 years old.

During her childhood, Alba has several physical illnesses including suffering from pneumonia four to five times a year and having partially collapsed lungs twice. She also had a tonsillar cyst and a ruptured appendix. Since childhood, she has had asthma. Alba commented that she became isolated from other kids due to her being in the hospital regularly, and her family’s frequent relocation. As a result, she didn’t have friends.

Jessica Alba Husband

Alba married Cash Warren in 2008 in Los Angeles. They met while filming Fantastic Four in 2004. The couple has three children including two daughters, Honor Mari, and Haven Garner, and a son, Hayes. Honor was born in June 2008 and is 16 years old as of 2024.

Reportedly, Haven’s first pictures which appeared in the July 2008 issue of OK! magazine earned US$1.5 million. Haven was born in August 2011 and is 13 years old as of 2024. Hayes was born in December 2017 and is 7 years old as of 2024. Cash is the son of Michael Warren, an actor, and ex-college basketball player who played Officer Bobby Hill on NBC’s Hill Street Blues.

Jessica Alba Relationships

Alba has been in two relationships, with her husband Cash, and co-star, Michael Weatherly. Alba started a 3-year relationship with her co-star, Michael Weatherly, in January 2000 while she was filming Dark Angel. She accepted Michael’s proposal which he posed during her 20th birthday. They announced their split in August 2003.

In 2007, she commented on the breakup saying that she didn’t know why she accepted the engagement, given their 12-year age gap, and that she was a virgin. Further, she said that her parents were unhappy since they are religious and believe that God wouldn’t let the Bible be written if it isn’t what they are supposed to believe. She also said that she was entirely different.

Jessica Alba Net Worth

Alba has an estimated net worth of approximately $350 Million which she has earned through being an actress, businesswoman, and entrepreneur. Forbes named her in its 2016 list of America’s Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40 Net Worth, ranking 34th on that list. She also ranked 42nd in Forbes’ list of America’s Self-Made Women.

Jessica Alba Religion

Alba grew up Catholic but left the church because she felt judged for her appearance. She elaborated that older men would romantically pursue her and her youth pastor commented that it was because she wore provocative clothing when she wasn’t. As a result, she felt responsible for the attention she received from men and ashamed of her body and femininity.

Alba also objected to the church’s disapproval of premarital sex and homosexuality. Moreover, she felt that there was an absence of strong female role models in the Bible. Even though she found the Bible a nice guide, she said that wasn’t how she would live her life.

Alba started waning from her devotion when she was 15 when she played a guest role of a teen with gonorrhea in the throat in an episode of Chicago Hope in 1996. Her church friends reacted negatively to her role which made her lose faith in the church. However, she maintains that she still believes in God.

During an interview with www.thedailybeast.com, she first fell in love at the age of 16. At the time, she crushed on a man who was bisexual, a drag queen, and a ballerina while in college in Vermont. They used to go to a gay club and dance all night four nights a week. She couldn’t accept that the church taught gay individuals go to hell and that premarital sex is evil. This contributed to her leaving the church.

Jessica Alba Ethnicity

Alba made an appearance in Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s genealogy series Finding Your Roots in 2014. During the episode, she learned her lineage which was tracked back to the ancient Maya civilization. The show’s research revealed that her surname was not tied to a Spanish man, given that her father’s paternal line (Y-DNA) belongs to Haplogroup Q-M3 which is Indigenous American in origin. His maternal line(mtDNA) was Jewish. She also learned she is a genetic relative of lawyer Alan Dershowitz. Globally, Alba’s admixture was 72.7% European, 22.5% East Asian and Native American, 2% Sub-Saharan African, 0.3% Middle Eastern and North African, 0.1% South Asian and 2.4% “No Match.”

Jessica Alba Nude

Alba has expressed concerns about being labeled as a “sex kitten” due to the types of roles she often gets. During an interview, she said that she wanted to be seen as a serious actress but felt that she had to take projects that did not initially appeal to her to advance her career. She eventually dreams of having the opportunity to pick what films she wants to act in.

Alba said that while some might disagree that she has never used her sexuality, it isn’t part of her. She also said that when meeting someone for a project, she wants to show her value as an asset rather than being viewed as someone who could be approached for romantic reasons. In 2008, she said that she goes to certain lengths to use sexuality to her advantage while influencing how others perceive her.

Jessica Alba Dark Angel

Alba gained fame for starring in a leading role in Dark Angel at age 19 from 2000 to 2002. Her role in the series earned her a nomination at the Golden Globe Awards. In the series, she portrayed Max Guevara / X5-452 for 42 episodes.

Guevara is a genetically modified transgenic supersoldier made in Manticore, a secret government lab. With 11 other children, she runs away from the lab when she is 9 years old and tries to live a normal life while Manticore tries to get her back.

Guevara also looks for other escapees with Logan Cale’s help also known as Eyes Only. Besides the series, she portrayed Guevera in the Dark Angel video game. For her role, she won several awards and was ranked t No. 17 in TV Guide’s list of the “25 Greatest Sci-Fi Legends.”

Jessica Alba Fantastic Four

Alba starred as Susan Storm / Invisible Woman in Fantastic Four in 2005. She recurred her role in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer in 2007. Susan works as the chief genetics researcher and is Reed Richards’s ex-girlfriend. She started developing powers(invisibility and force fields) after being exposed to a cosmic storm.

Sue alongside her brother, Johnny Storm, Dr. Reed Richards, and Ben Grimm form a superhero team dubbed the Fantastic Four. Fantastic Four follows the team as they learn to accept their newfound abilities and their heroic acts. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer follows the Fantastic Four alongside Doctor Doom as they confront the Silver Surfer. They later team up with him to save Earth from Galactus.

Jessica Alba Sin City

Alba starred as exotic dancer Nancy Callahan in Sin City in 2005. Nancy works at Kadie’s Bar and is frequently involved in the town’s criminal underworld. She was kidnapped by serial child-killer Roark Junior at the age of 9 who intends to sexually assault and kill her. However, his plans come to a halt when Nancy is rescued by John Hartigan. Alba said that the film’s directors, Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez, gave her the chance to act nude in the film. However, she declined and said that she doesn’t do nude scenes.

Jessica Alba Education

After completing her studies at Claremont High School at age 16, she joined the Atlantic Theater Company where she received her diploma.

Jessica Alba Career

Alba gained fame for starring in a leading role in Dark Angel at age 19 from 2000 to 2002. Her role in the series earned her a nomination at the Golden Globe Awards. She launched her acting career in 1994 at the age of 13 in Camp Nowhere and The Secret World of Alex Mack.

In 2003, Alba had her big screen breakthrough in Honey. Soon she established herself as a Hollywood actress, appearing in big box office hits during her career including Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Good Luck Chuck, The Eye, Valentine’s Day, Little Fockers, and Mechanic: Resurrection. She frequently works with director Robert Rodriguez, with roles in Sin City, Machete, Spy Kids: All the Time in the World, Machete Kills, and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. She appeared in the Spectrum’s  L.A.’s Finest from 2019 to 2020.

2011 to present;

Alba worked with Robert Rodriguez for the third time in Spy Kids: All the Time in the World, where she played the role of a retired spy who gets called back into action. She starred in A.C.O.D. in 2013 opposite Adam Scott, Richard Jenkins, Jane Lynch, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Catherine O’Hara. That same year, she debuted as a voice actor in the animated film, Escape from Planet Earth.

Alba worked with director Rodriguez again for two film sequels. She appeared in an uncredited cameo role in Machete Kills in 2013 and stripper Nancy Callahan in Sin City: A Dame to Kill For in 2014. Additionally, played a cabaret show performer in Dear Eleanor in 2014, an English professor in Some Kind of Beautiful in 2014, and a receptionist in Stretch in 2014. The following year, she portrayed an emotionally unguarded weapons trafficker in Barely Lethal.

In 2016, Alba portrayed a documentary filmmaker in The Veil. That same year, she starred opposite Jason Statham in Mechanic: Resurrection, playing the role of the girlfriend of a retired hitman. For her role in the film, she did Krav Maga to get into shape. She is set to appear and be the executive producer of  Disney+’s Parenting Without Borders, which concentrates on global families, their beliefs, and cultures.  

The Honest Company

Alba and Christopher Gavigan founded The Honest Company which sells goods, diapers, and body care products collections in 2011. In 2013, she issued a New York Times Best Seller book dubbed The Honest Company, following how she made a natural and safe life for her family. In 2014, the company was valued at US$1 billion. The following year, she debuted a skincare and beauty product collection called Honest Beauty.

In April 2022, Alba owned 6.5 percent of the company. Further, she worked as the company’s CEO, earning a yearly base salary of $700,000 and restricted stock valued at $1,500,000. She stepped down from that position in April 2024.

Public Image

Alba has garnered attention for her looks over the years and has been featured in multiple publications’ lists of the most beautiful celebrities of the time including Men’s Health, Vanity Fair, and FHM. From 2001 to 2004, she has been featured in Maxim Magazine’s Hot 100 list several times. A Hollywood.com poll voted her the fifth Sexiest Female Star in 2002. People Magazine listed her in its list of the 50 Most Beautiful People in 2005. Further, the magazine featured her in its 100 Most Beautiful list in 2007.

In 2006, Playboy magazine named her in its list of “25 Sexiest Celebrities.” That same year, she was on the cover of that year’s issue. She filed charges against the magazine for using that cover image from a promotional shot for Into the Blue without her consent, saying that the issue gave the impression a “nude pictorial” of her was there. She dropped the charges after the magazine’s owner, Hugh Hefner, apologized and offered to make donations to two charities she had supported.

Readers of AskMen.com ranked her #1 on its “99 Most Desirable Women” list in 2006. The following year, she ranked 4th on Empire Magazine’s “100 Sexiest Movie Stars.” She has appeared on the June 2008 covers of GQ and In Style.

In 2009, she appeared in the Campari calendar, which printed 9,999 copies of the calendar.  Men’s Health named her in its list of the “100 Hottest Women of All-Time” in 2011. The following year, she was listed in one of the year’s “Most Beautiful at Every Age.” In 2010, reports of a 21-year-old Chinese girl seeking plastic surgery to resemble Alba to get her ex back went viral. Alba spoke out against the view that an individual needed to change one’s looks for love.

Charity and Activism

In 2008, Alba posed for Declare Yourself in an effort to encourage voter registration among youth for that year’s United States presidential election. Mark Liddell photographed her as she was wrapped in and gagged with black tape, drawing national attention. She promoted Barack Obama during that season. Further, she endorsed Hillary Clinton’s campaign for president.

In 2011, Alba partook in a two-day lobbying endeavor to endorse the Safe Chemicals Act(a revision of the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act) in Washington D.C. She returned to Capitol Hill in 2015 to campaign lawmakers as they debated on a replacement for the 1976 Substances Control Act.

Alba has strongly advocated for gay rights. On June 27, 2013, she shared her happiness about the Supreme Court’s resolve to take down DOMA on her Twitter account tweeting “#equality #love.” She has also been involved with charities like Habitat for Humanity, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Revlon Run/Walk for Women, Clothes Off Our Back, Project HOME, RADD, SOS Children’s Villages, Soles4Souls, Step Up, and Baby2Baby.

Alba works as an ambassador of the 1Goal movement, aimed at giving education to children in Africa. She was also a Baby2Baby “angel” ambassador, giving and helping to share items like diapers and clothing with Los Angeles families. In collaboration with The Honest Company, Alba sponsored a laboratory at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City in 2015 which would be used to research the connections between household chemicals and autism.

Jessica Alba Shark Poster Controversy

Alba was involved in a controversy for pasting shark posters around town while filming The Killer Inside Me in Oklahoma City. She commented that she was trying to bring attention to the declining population of great white sharks. Despite some media outlet’s speculations that she would be arrested for vandalism, the Oklahoma City police commented that no criminal charges would be pursued since the property owners didn’t want to. Via a statement to People magazine, she said that she regretted her actions and donated an unrevealed amount of money (over US$500) to the United Way, whose billboard she had concealed with one of the shark posters.

Jessica Alba Movies and TV Shows

Alba has starred in several movies during her career such as

• Venus Rising
• Flipper
• Never Been Kissed
• Paranoid
• Brooklyn South
• Project Runway
• The Spoils of Babylon
• The Sleeping Dictionary
• Into the Blue
• Knocked Up
• The Love Guru
• An Invisible Sign
• L.A.’s Finest
• Entourage
• El Camino Christmas
• Killers Anonymous
• Trigger Warning
• StoryBots: Answer Time