Hollywood actress Jessica Alba, popularly known for portraying Sue Storm, aka The Invisible Woman, in the Fantastic Four film series, started her acting career at a very young age. The actress reportedly asked her mother to take her to an acting competition, which had free acting classes as the winning prize. She won the competition and got her first acting job soon after joining the acting class.
It was her initial step in becoming one of the queens of the romantic comedy genre. During an interview with Glamour UK, the 42-year-old actress opened up about how she got the encouragement to be successful in life at a very young age.
Jessica Alba Opened Up About Her Childhood
Born to deeply religious Catholic parents in Pomona, California, Jessica Alba has shared that she moved around a lot due to her father’s career in the Air Force. During her interview with Glamour UK, she shared that her parents were living paycheck to paycheck and did not have a “safety net.”
“I grew up in survival mode,” she said before stating how everyone around her told her, “Here’s your life.” However, she did not want to continue to live in such conditions and decided to do everything to get a better life. As per Glamour UK, Alba said,
“And I was like, ‘This is some bullsh*t. I want a better life than that. I don’t want to be in survival mode all the time.'”
She also shared that she was determined to prove herself, as no one at the time had any expectations of her to be successful. And she did it by following her passion for acting, which she had always wanted to do. And it not only brought her success but also provided her with a sense of belonging in the world.
Jessica Alba Struggled to Land Leading Roles Initially
Hollywood star Jessica Alba initially rose to prominence by portraying Max Guevara in the sci-fi TV series Dark Angel. Along with the TV series, she continued starring in feature films and had her big break in the 2003 film Honey. Following her breakthrough, she went on to lead several blockbusters.
However, she shared that she struggled to land leading roles in the movies, as filmmakers were unable to “figure out [her] ethnicity.” Her father is Mexican-American and due to her looks, she was often told that she was not “Latin enough to play a Latina” and “not Caucasian enough to play the leading lady.”
It led her to audition for exotic roles in movies, which the actress described as “Whatever that was.” However, she was determined to be a leading lady and to prove that girls like her could also lead movies. “It’s something they care about, which is fine. How they get there really doesn’t matter,” she said while talking about the changes the film industry has seen over the past few years.
Source: Glamour UK
