Jessica Biel Biography

Jessica BielActress Jessica Biel was born on March 3, 1982, in Ely, Minnesota. Jessica grew up in Boulder, Colorado with an early ambition to be in music theater. As a child, she starred in several musicals, including The Sound of Music and Annie. In 1994, Biel was awarded a scholarship to Diane Hardin's Young Actors Space in Los Angeles. Her first job in the media was as a young model for teen magazines, but in 1996, she landed the role that would make her famous when she was cast as Mary Camden on Aaron Spelling's 7th Heaven. One year later, Biel landed a role in Victor Nunez's Ulee's Gold, for which she won a Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actress.Despite the success of 7th Heaven, Jessica began to feel that her role as a minister's daughter was preventing her from getting more mature roles on the big screen, such as the one played by Thora Birch in American Beauty in 1999. When Jessica voiced this concern to 7th Heaven producers, they would not release her from her contract. In March of 2000, Jessica decided to take matters into her own hands by posing for the cover of men's magazine Gear, which declared her a fallen angel. The issue became one of the magazine's most popular releases, and Biel was released from her 7th Heaven contract.Now free from 7th Heaven, Biel enrolled at liberal arts school Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, but did not obtain her degree. Instead she pursued her career in film, playing a bikini-clad beauty alongside Freddie Prinze Jr. in Summer Catch in 2001. The film did not fare well at the box office.For the 2001-2002 season of 7th Heaven, Biel returned to play her former character, Mary, and continued to make guest appearances until the show's finale in 2006. The show was the WB's most popular and longest-running series.In 2002, Biel starred in Roger Avary's The Rules of Attraction. That same year, she landed a contract to become L'Oreal cosmetics spokes model.In 2003, Biel was as far away from the Camden's house as possible when she found herself playing a character held captive by a family of homicidal maniacs in the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The terrifying flick was touted as a true story, but like other classic horror films, Psycho, Deranged, and The Silence of the Lambs, it was loosely inspired by one of history's most gruesome serial killers, Ed Gein.In 2004, Jessica starred in suspense thriller Cellular as well as vampire action film Blade: Trinity, with Wesley Snipes. In 2005, director Cameron Crowe cast Jessica in Elizabethtown, with Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, Susan Sarandon, and Alec Baldwin. That same year, Esquire magazine named Biel the Sexiest Woman Alive.Most recently, Biel played the role of a princess in The Illusionist in 2006, with Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti.Biel supports several non-profit groups such as PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) and Rebuilding Together, a home rehabilitation organization. She is also co-founder of MTDN (Make the Difference Network). Adding to her charitable endeavors, Biel auctioned herself off at a charity event in May of 2006, which raised funds for Colorado teenager Molly Bloom, who lost her leg and part of her pelvis in an auto accident. The bidder, an oil and gas company executive, paid $30,000 for a lunch date with Biel.

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