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Jessica Alba - Biography

The Camp Nowhere actress met her husband Cash Warren while filming Fantastic Four in 2004

Actress Jessica Alba in a strapless dress with her hair in a bun and silver earrings
Nichola Murphy
Deputy Lifestyle Editor
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Jessica Alba's early life

Jessica Alba was born in Pomona, California on April 28, 1981 to mother Catherine, who has Danish, Welsh, German, English and French ancestry, and father Mark, who has a Mexican heritage. "My father is Mexican and very dark, my mother is very fair. I always used to get (script) breakdowns for things like Maria, the janitor's daughter who hangs around with white kids. I was born in the United States. I never thought about it until the industry made me think about being a Latin girl. It seemed like such a bizarre thing," she said.

She studied at Claremont High School but admitted she hated school, and she went on to enrol in acting classes at the Atlantic Theater Company, set up by playwright David Mamet and William H Macy. 

Jessica Alba's career

She won her big screen break in 1993 with the comedy Camp Nowhere, where she was originally hired for just two weeks but was promoted to a principal role after another actress dropped out.

She went on to star in The Secret World Of Alex Mack, Flipper, Beverly Hills 90210 and Never Been Kissed with Drew Barrymore. But it was the action-packed sci-fi show Dark Angel that got her noticed worldwide, earning her a Golden Globe nomination, the Teen Choice Award for Choice Actress, and a Saturn Award for Best Actress.

Jessica Alba's marriage

She has largely kept her love life out of the headlines. Her Dark Angel co-star Michael Weatherly proposed on her 20th birthday, but they split in August 2003. Jessica went on to meet Cash Warren while filming Fantastic Four in 2004, and the couple got married four years later before welcoming three children: Honor, born in June 2008, Haven, born in August 2011, and Hayes, born in December 2017.

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