Jessica Biel
From Babepedia
Contents |
Biography
Early life
Biel was born in Ely, Minnesota, the daughter of Kimberly "Kim" (née Conroe) and Jonathan Edward Biel, an entrepreneur. Biel, who has a younger brother, Justin, grew up in Boulder, Colorado, where her family had moved when she was very young. She is of Choctaw, German, French, and English descent.
Biel initially trained to become a vocalist with the hope of performing in musical theater and appeared in several musicals at an early age including The Sound of Music, Annie, Beauty and the Beast and Anything Goes. It was not until Biel attended the International Modeling and Talent Association Convention in Los Angeles in 1994 when her career started to take off as a fashion model.
Rise to fame (1996-2002)
Biel's first big break came when at 14 years old she landed the role of Mary Camden on the WB TV Series 7th Heaven. The family drama from Aaron Spelling and Brenda Hampton became the most popular series on the fledgling network. Jessica's film career also began at age 15 when she played alongside Peter Fonda in his Golden Globe winning performance in Ulee's Gold (1997). Aside from acting, Jessica became a spokesmodel for L'Oréal cosmetics in 2002.
In 2000, Biel posed topless in a layout of Gear magazine, although she did not actually appear frontally nude. It was nonetheless controversial because she was only 17 at the time of the shoot. Her frustration and fear about being typecast was one of the reasons that led to her decision. She blamed her saintly image on 7th Heaven for limiting her film career, including losing a lead role in American Beauty, which eventually went to Thora Birch. Jessica also hoped that by posing she would get out of her 7th Heaven contract, which she accomplished. She later said she regretted posing for the magazine and regards it as a learning experience. Jessica returned to 7th Heaven full time for the 2001—2002 season and then focused her attention on her movie career and has made minimal TV appearances since then. In 2002, she also had a role in the film The Rules of Attraction based on a novel by Bret Easton Ellis.
Film stardom (2003-2005)
After her departure from 7th Heaven, she accepted the role of Erin Hardesty in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003). The movie was met with moderate critical attention, but was successful commercially making over 80 million dollars stateside with its 9 million dollar budget. She has also had starring roles in Blade: Trinity (2004) and Stealth (2005), the latter of which was a box-office flop, losing $99 million USD.
After a nearly three year absence, Jessica surprised her fans by making one final appearance in the series finale of 7th Heaven in May 2006.
Breakthrough (2006-present)
After several indifferent feature films, her film career finally blossomed when she played a turn-of-the-century duchess in The Illusionist (2006), which received good reviews and generated a profit at the box office
Personal life
Jessica Biel attended the exclusive private Lycée Français de Los Angeles high school. In fall 2000, she enrolled in an undergraduate study at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. Having attended there during fall 2000, spring 2001 and fall 2002 semesters, she left before completing a degree program to concentrate on her acting career.
Biel's hobbies include ballet, soccer, running, yoga and hiking. Biel currently resides in Los Angeles. She dated actor Chris Evans from 2001 to 2006, with at least one time "off" during that period. Together, they appeared in the films London and Cellular. She also dated other actors, Adam LaVorgna, who portrayed the character of Robbie in 7th Heaven, for about two years and briefly Rey-Phillip Santos. Jessica had been linked to New York Yankees star shortstop Derek Jeter.
In January 2007, Biel was linked to singer Justin Timberlake when pictures surfaced of the two snowboarding in Park City, Utah during the Sundance Film Festival. On May 12, 2007, the gossip was refueled with the release of romantic pictures of Timberlake and Biel on multiple dates, specifically caught kissing while dining in the UK.
