The role of actress and model seem so frequently to pair up. Jessica Biel is a perfect example of how someone can become known for both acting ability and strikingly good looks. She is thought to be Hollywood's most heavily demanded actress and her work with television has brought her up to an unparalleled level of recognition. Known for performances in films such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The A Team and Summer Catch, Jessica Biel has created wealth and fame in a remarkably short space of time – when you consider that she only began her career in 1996.
Like the actress, Elizabeth Banks, Jessica Biel's father also worked for General Electric in America. Her mother, as well as being a homemaker, works part time as a spiritual healer and Jessica is one of only two children. Her younger brother, Justin, was born in 1985. Her looks came from her mixed background , including English, French, German and Choctaw roots. Like many American families in the late twentieth century, the Biels did not stay in one place for long. They moved to Texas and Illinois frequently before finally settling in Boulder, Colorado. Like many actors, Jessica Biel started life wanting to be a musician – a singer, to be precise. She had a promising voice from an early age and at the age of nine, started taking parts in musicals such as Annie, Beauty and the Beast and The Sound of Music. As her characteristic stunning looks developed in her teens, she began modelling. In 1994, she competed in the International Modelling and Talent Association's annual conference.
Whilst studying at Tufts University in Bedford, Massachusetts, she spent all her spare time getting involved with charities such as P.E.T.A. (campaigning for animal rights) and Best Friends Animal Sanctuary.
Before this, though, her film career was already well underway. At the ripe old age of fourteen, she took part in Ulee's Gold, acting alongside Peter Fonda in the performance that won him his Golden Globe.
As an adult , she took famous parts in films including Cellular and The Rules of Attraction. Over the years, it seemed that her early vocal talent was forgotten about and this did not resurface until she was given lead singing roles in Broadway – where she took parts in musicals, including Rent. As glamorous as the stage life of Broadway happens to be, the world of Hollywood was more appealing to Jessica Biel.
It is no surprise that Jessica still gets a huge amount of work as a model. Both Esquire Magazine and Stuff Magazine have voted her “the sexiest woman alive” and she is in the top ten of almost every other publication.
Jessica's personal life reveals a side to her that is quite different from the glamorous model/actress persona that the public sees every day. She is something of a collector claiming to have an extensive collection of vintage spectacles, specifically without lenses. She dabbles in numerous hobbies such as amateur photography, soccer, ballet, hiking with her pet dog (named East) and yoga. She remains a big supporter of animal rights, partly through practicing vegetarianism.
For five years, between 2001 and 2006, Jessica was publicly in a relationship with the famous actor Chris Evans and during that time she played his girlfriend in two films with him – either a lucky coincidence, or just the nature of Hollywood. In 2007, whilst going out with Justin Timberlake, she accompanied him on his European tour.
Jessica Biel has showed acting promise since an incredibly young age – bear in mind her first professional acting job came to her when she was eleven years old, when she performed in a Pringles commercial. She claims to have wanted to be a pop star since winning a karaoke competition at the age of eight. At eleven, she won an acting scholarship to Young Actor's Space. It seems that everything happened very early for Jessica Biel, but she shows no signs of stopping any time soon. It is perhaps lucky for her that her parents did, in fact, decide to call her Jessica – as the original suggestion for her name was Snowmo Biel. She is proud of her looks and believes that she gives people a role model in appearance: “There is so much pressure to look a certain way in this town. But it's nice to have a little meat on you, and I hope I inspire women to appreciate their muscular calves.”
Jessica is still living in Los Angeles and showing no sign of moving. Her ambitions, by her own admission, do not venture outside of the acting/modeling career that she is currently succeeding in. On this path she seems set, until perhaps another talent is discovered.