Jessica Alba

Jessica Marie Alba (as she is sometimes credited) was born on April 28, 1981, in Pomona, California. The aspiring actress relocated with her family (her Spanish/Mexican-American father was in the Air Force) several times before finally settling down in Southern California. The Alba family moved to Biloxi, Mississippi, then back to California, followed by Del Rio, Texas, and finally back to the West Coast. Despite constantly moving across the U.S., Alba knew she wanted to be an actress since the age of 5. Her career was ready to take off when an agent signed her, a mere nine months after 12-year-old Jessica took an acting class.

Jessica Alba's first film role, in the 1994 film Camp Nowhere, came her way by chance. She was cast with a bit part in the film after one of the characters dropped out of the production. Dark-haired Jessica was cast as the replacement, thanks to the fact that her hair matched that of the original actress.In 1998, she appeared as Melissa Hauer in a first-season episode of the Steven Bochco crime-drama Brooklyn South, as Leanne in two episodes of Beverly Hills 90210 and as Layla in an episode of The Love Boat: The Next Wave. In 1999, she appeared in the Randy Quaid comedy feature P.U.N.K.S..