Jessica Alba Interviews

What is it about Jessica that makes u obsessed about her? Of course she's beautiful. But is there something else?? Maybe it's a magical curse. I dunno. Would I have been better off not knowing she existed so she wouldn't be on my mind so much?

--from one of the hundreds of Alba fan sites

"I got plenty of ass."

Jessica Alba is hiking in Hollywood's Runyon Canyon with one hand gripping her left cheek. She is talking about her body. The body. Hers of the mesmerizing torso showcased to full, undulating perfection in several films, most recently Sin City and in this month's summer opus Fantastic Four, and bested only by the aforementioned ass, a heart-shaped beauty that sends men into fits of sputtering praise, but an ass that Alba nonetheless believes is a tad too large.

"I hear people in this industry talking shit all the time about how Jennifer Lopez is fat," she says tersely. "And I know if they're calling her fat, they're saying the same shit about me."

Rightly, Alba worries about this. At twenty-four, she has, thus far in her acting career, been largely defined by her body. Of her last eight films, she has been nearly naked in seven. She is five feet six and a half, 34-25-34, and weighs 120 pounds, depending upon her training schedule. But the numbers tell little of the story. Even beneath the baggy sweats she favors, Alba's body is a marvel of feminine proportion. A siren song. Everything slopes and curves where it should. Nothing juts or strains. Muscles blend into soft arcs.

As a result, Alba has consistently been ranked in the top ten on various men's-magazine fuckability polls. Web sites devoted to her celebrity hammer on her hotness with creepy persistence. Mark Wahlberg's reality-infused HBO show Entourage devoted an entire story arc to the conquest of Alba, her body hounded like the Holy Grail of scores by the young male cast, a quest Wahlberg himself has supposedly pursued in real life. Us Weekly even reported the rumor that Alba was Tom Cruise's first choice for a publicity girlfriend -- the plum position ultimately handed over to default pick Katie Holmes. The thinking: Alba's carnal appeal is so powerful it could endear Mr. Cruise to a youth audience and affirm his virility once and for all.

She is good-humored about the scrutiny, but she confesses the one-note quality of it all is starting to wear her out. "The scripts I get are always for the whore, or the motorcycle chick in leather, or the horny maid," Alba says as she climbs a hill, panting slightly. "I get all these screenplays that start, 'Tawnya is in the shower. The water streams down her naked, perky breasts.' " She sighs, then laughs a tired laugh. "I don't think this is happening to Natalie Portman."

There are many reasons for this, and Alba, to her credit, has a firm grasp on most of them. Cast as she is, she hasn't yet had much opportunity to "act." The closest she comes to a scene-stealing turn is as one of the popular snots in Never Been Kissed, where she is indisputably funny and natural. The rest of her curriculum vitae -- including schlocky thrillers, the short-lived James Cameron sci-fi television series Dark Angel and the ill-conceived hip-hop-heroine picture Honey -- is less impressive. Her turn in Sin City stands out, but largely because Alba plays a stripper with a heart of gold. And a lasso.

"It's not always so great to be objectified," she says. "But I don't feel I have much of a choice right now. I'm young in my career. I know I have to strike when the iron is hot."

Alba plans to capitalize on her God-given assets for the moment, saturate the market with her sultry image and then, when she "won't have to do that stuff just to get people's attention," she hopes to transition into someone like Diane Keaton or Goldie Hawn, women she admires for their kookiness and pluck. "I look forward to the day when I can do a small movie and act," Alba says, "and it's not about me wearing a fucking bathing suit or chaps."

Problem is, Alba isn't kooky. Kooky does not come with plum lips and amber skin and a beckoning grin. Alba, for better or worse, is a babe. More than that, she is a certain strain of babe -- the kind that invites rather than intimidates. She is a good girl, playing a bad girl. Her face is open and warm. She smiles often. She is fresh-scrubbed. She never struts, but ambles. She has normal-size breasts and no plans to enhance them. She points to pimples on her forehead and laughs. She eats -- a lot. In short, she is girlfriend material, and it is this accessibility, when married to her liquid body, that makes her walking kryptonite -- an effect in evidence whenever she exits the house and leaves a trail of double takes in her wake. Men on the street take note initially because she is pretty, but then, as she walks closer, it registers -- "Man, that's Jessica Alba!" -- and the admiration explodes into palpable desire.

"She doesn't even notice it," says her close friend and sometime personal trainer Ramona Braganza. "We went into Starbucks in Ohio, and all these guys were falling all over themselves and whispering. She had no idea."

Alba herself tells a charmingly naive story about how in L.A. she is never able to dine alone.

"Everyone feels bad for you," she says. "For some reason, waiters, cooks, they all have to come out and talk to you: 'How's the food? Did someone not show up?' I'm like, 'No, I'm reading my book. I'm totally happy.' "

When it is suggested that perhaps these concerned gentlemen emerge specifically to see her, that surely not every gal eating solo gets the pity party, Alba shakes her head. "Men in Los Angeles get uncomfortable when a woman is by herself," she says. "Unless she's shopping."

On any other actress, such an observation would smack of disingenuousness, but somehow Alba pulls it off. Maybe because she has been acting since she was twelve and has already in her short lifetime "had periods where I was in everybody's face and times when nobody knew who I was."

Alba has already been back and forth on the celebrity trip and has decided, ultimately, "Fuck it." Now she ignores fame completely, staying in a bubble of her creation, a sunny, insular place where life is as deliciously sweet as she wills it to be. A place where men talk to her because they are kind, not horned up. A place where the future has nothing to do with her haircut or her high-riding buttocks.

"I don't need to be famous," she says adamantly. "I'm not that ambitious. At this point, if I'm not sucked in, I'm never going to get sucked in. Being the so-called hot girl, I disconnect from that. It's not that deep."

(Excerpted from RS 977-978, June 30, 2005)

Jessica Alba hardly leads the life of the deadly, genetically enhanced human prototype she plays on Dark Angel. She grew up in a pretty traditional family in the Golden State, where she got an early start on her future career.

Jessica's father served in the air force and moved the family a few times before settling down, when Jessica was nine, in Southern California. At the age of 12, she took her first acting class and signed with an agent just nine months later.

She made her feature-film debut in the comedy Camp Nowhere and was initially hired for about two weeks. But when the girl in the lead role became ill, Jessica stepped in. It wasn't her talent that landed her the role, though. It was her hair! Her 'do matched the original actress' mane perfectly, and that was just what the doctor ordered.

Jessica appeared in TV commercials for Nintendo and JC Penny and was featured in several independent films. In 1994, she landed a spot on Nickelodeon's The Secret World of Alex Mack, and that paved the way for a major role in the 1995 series remake of Flipper--a perfect fit for the young scuba diver. Jess spent two seasons swimming with dolphins while filming the series in Australia.

In 2000, Titanic director James Cameron picked Jessica to star in his new sci-fi TV series, Dark Angel. She didn't know it then, but the role would bring her true fame--and a future husband. She met costar Michael Weatherly on the set, and sparks flew.

From her biggest influences to a possible career in the kitchen, click to see if the Dark Angel answered your Q's.

Jessica Alba on her movies, living in Hollywood and the war in Iraq

Aug. 12, 2005 - Jessica Alba is on a roll. She heated up screens this spring as the sultry heroine of “Sin City,” the Robert Rodriguez film based on Frank Miller's graphic novels. In this summer’s “Fantastic Four,” she certainly wasn’t invisible as the Invisible Girl. (Despite bad reviews, it has earned 5 million so far-and Alba has signed on for two more sequels.) Next up, she stars opposite Paul Walker in the action movie “Into the Blue.” With the “Sin City” DVD coming out this week, the 24-year-old actress spoke to NEWSWEEK’s Ramin Setoodeh.

NEWSWEEK: I hate to ask you this, but have you heard about all the rumors about you and Tom Cruise?

Jessica Alba: I heard it from journalists. I never actually heard it from anyone else.

Are they true? Did you meet Tom before he dated Katie Holmes?

I actually met everyone at his company for a movie called “The Eye.” It’s like a scary, cool thriller that I wanted to do. I met his entire production company, including him. They make really interesting movies.

Did anyone ever approach you about being his girlfriend?

No. That’s so weird. I don’t even understand how that would happen.

It’s a such a strange rumor, but for some reason it got out. I just wanted to give you a chance to clear it up.

I know. That’s silly.

So you never went out on a date with Tom Cruise?

[Laughs.] You’re still fishing. No. I have a boyfriend. Why would I go out on a date with another man? I’ve been in a relationship for a year.

Do you think you’ll get married?

Eventually, I’ll get married.

One of my co-workers wanted me to ask you out on a date for him.

You have to be really, really smart if you’re going to go on a date with me. That’s the only problem.

What does he need to know about you?

I’ve been all over the world. I’ve been working since I was 12. I’m not an idiot. I’m interested in all sorts of different things. I’m pretty educated on what’s going on in the rest of the world.

Are you political?

I definitely have my point of view.

What is that?

I can’t wait for Barack Obama to run for something. Cause I am voting.

Do you think he’ll be president in the future?

I sure hope so. I hope people are open-minded enough to have somebody like Barack.

What do you think of the war in Iraq?

You know, it’s really none of my business. I’m not fighting. I’m not in the Army. I’m not in any of the armed forces. I’m not Donald Rumsfeld. And I’m certainly not in Iraq—an Iraqi person who has to deal with all the bulls—t in my country. I’m not Afghani. I wouldn’t know what that reality is like, to sit in your home and to have soldiers raiding your house because they think your kid is a spy. And explosions happening at your kids’ schools. I don’t know if I could have a real educated opinion about it all. I just think it’s f—ked up, whatever’s happening over there.

I have to say. I used to be a big fan of “The Secret World of Alex Mack.”

Oh, you were. [Laughs.] That’s hilarious.

You were so mean on the show.

Well, it was a character. Come on.

Most people don’t realize you had such a long career on television. You were on “Beverly Hills 90210” as a teenager even though the other actors were much older.

It was weird. I actually stopped watching after the first season. And going on the show, they were all like grown-ups. They were not even high school or college. I was playing a girl who was giving up her baby or something.

More recently you were on “Entourage.”

I was the first guest star, I think.

How do you discover the character of Jessica Alba?

I don’t know. It’s funny when they write dialogue for you—'cause I’m like, "This is supposed to be me? That’s so weird." I changed it so it was dialogue I’d say myself. The house wasn’t mine.

Do you have any beach houses?

No, I don’t. I’m not that fly yet, but maybe one day.

Let’s talk about “Sin City.” I know you had to convince them to cast you for the role.

I got cast because I did a good job. I was the actress they wanted. They didn’t hire me cause they thought, "Oh, you’re hot." Or, "We think you’re going to be the next big this and that." They could give two s—ts who I was. Their movie was going to be successful whoever was in the role. So they cast the best actors.

So how did you convince them you’re the best?

I don’t know. I just read with a casting director.

Did you know you were going to be so talented in the art of lassoing?

I didn’t think I could lasso, actually. I hit myself in the face more than a few times with a lasso in my trying to do it right. So no, I thought I was terrible.

But it didn’t look that way on the screen.

That was after lots of hitting myself in the eye. There really isn’t a trick. You’ve just got to do it.

Did you practice on people?

Yes. Basically, on anybody who was walking by me on the set. I kind of was like, "Could you just stand still for a second?" And they were like, "Who are you?" And I’m like, "I’m in the movie, don’t worry." I’d just lasso people and trash cans. I think I did lasso Bruce Willis. And I lassoed all of his—he has like a trainer and an assistant—and I think I lassoed Frank and Robert, the make-up artist, girls.

Were you nervous at all about wearing so little?

Yeah. But I’m glad I wasn’t naked. Like, for the alternative, it was better wearing what I wore than not wearing anything at all. She’s drawn naked. For me, it wasn’t an option. It was an option for whoever was playing the character. They left it up to us, but I wasn’t comfortable with that.

You also aren’t wearing that much in your next movie, “Into the Blue”?

Well, I play a shark wrangler. She’s in the water a lot—in the Bahamas, and it’s hot. It wouldn’t be right if she’s wearing a full suit when it’s like 90 degrees.

I hear that your costar, Paul Walker, is a very disciplined actor.

He’s good.

I’m just joking, Jessica!

No. He did a good job. Out of the things I’ve seen him in, this is the most you get to see of Paul. He actually—I don’t know—gets to do more than just do one-liners and stuff. I was proud of him.

What do you think is the hardest part of being a young actress?

I don’t think it’s that hard. I think life is really f—king good, being an actor. We get to do what we want to do for a living. So you have paparazzi following you around. If it truly bothered me to my core I’d f—king live in another country or I’d live in another state even. There’s no paparazzi in Michigan.

But wouldn’t there be paparazzi if you lived there?

No, there wouldn’t. People live all over in different states and they don’t they get bothered. I live in LA, so of course. You live in New York, fine. Miami, maybe. It’s not a big deal at all.