Jessica Biel
Biel in August 2012
Born	Jessica Claire Biel[1] (1982-03-03) March 3, 1982 (age 31)[2] Ely, Minnesota, U.S.[1]
Occupation	Actress, model, singer
Years active	1996–present
Spouse(s)	Justin Timberlake (m. 2012)

Jessica Claire Biel (born March 3, 1982) is an American actress, model and singer. She began her career as a vocalist appearing in musical productions until she was cast as Mary Camden in the family-drama series 7th Heaven which she achieved recognition for.^[3] The series till now is the longest-running series that has ever aired on The WB channel and is the longest-running family drama in television history.^[4] In 1997, she won the Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film – Supporting Young Actress for her role in Ulee's Gold.

Biel has since starred in many films, including The Rules of Attraction (2002), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), Blade: Trinity (2004), Stealth (2005), I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007), The A-Team (2010), New Year's Eve (2011), and Total Recall (2012). She appeared in the thriller indie film Emanuel and the Truth about Fishes in 2013.

Early life [edit]

Jessica Biel was born on March 3, 1982, in Ely, Minnesota.^[5] Her mother, Kimberly (née Conroe), is a homemaker and spiritual healer. Her father, Jonathan Biel, worked for GE and was also an entrepreneur and business consultant.^[6][7][8] She is of German, French, English, Irish, and Choctaw ancestry^[9][10] and has a younger brother, Justin, born in 1985.^[11][12] Biel's family moved frequently during her childhood, living in Texas, Connecticut, and Woodstock, Illinois, before finally settling in Boulder, Colorado. While growing up, Biel played soccer^[13] and also trained as a gymnast.^[8] From 2000 to 2002, she attended Tufts University.^[14]

Career [edit]

Career beginnings [edit]

Biel initially trained to be a vocalist. At age nine, she appeared in several musical productions in her hometown, playing lead roles in productions such as Annie, The Sound of Music, and Beauty and the Beast.^[15] Biel auditioned for the a cappella choir the Tufts Amalgamates, but did not get into the group.^[16] At twelve, Biel attended The International Modeling and Talent Association conference in Los Angeles where she was discovered and signed by the Judith Fontaine Modeling & Talent Agency. She began modeling for print advertisements, and appeared in commercials for products such as Dulux Paint and Pringles.^[6] Biel also played the character Regrettal, a lead role in a low-budget musical short titled It's a Digital World. At fourteen, after auditioning for several television pilots, Biel was cast as Mary Camden, the second oldest child in the family drama 7th Heaven.

1997–2005: Career breakthrough [edit]

Biel on board the USS Abraham Lincoln on June 18, 2004

Biel landed her first feature film role as Peter Fonda's granddaughter in the critically acclaimed drama Ulee's Gold, released in 1997. Her performance earned her a Young Artist Award.^[17] In spring 1998, during a break from filming 7th Heaven, she starred in I'll Be Home for Christmas, playing the love interest of Jonathan Taylor Thomas.^[15]

Biel posed topless in the March 2000 issue of Gear. Producers of 7th Heaven were outraged, and brought legal action against Gear.^[15] She later stated that she regrets the Gear shoot but considers it a learning experience.^[18] In 2001, Biel played the love interest of Freddie Prinze, Jr. in the baseball-themed film Summer Catch. In 2002, she starred as promiscuous college student Lara in the ensemble film The Rules of Attraction, an adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis novel. The movie received mixed reviews, became a box office hit and has since gained a Cult following.^[19][20]

Biel was cast in her first top-billing role in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.^[21] The film met with negative reviews but it was a commercial success, scoring the number-one spot in its opening week and going on to earn more than $80 million in the U.S.^[21][22] In 2003, Biel began work on the third installment of the Blade film series, Blade: Trinity. Despite negative reviews of the installment, it was a box office hit grossing $150 million worldwide.^[23] Almost immediately after finishing it in 2004, she headed to Australia to shoot the action-thriller Stealth.^[24]

Biel also appeared in the 2004 film Cellular. Biel was cast in the role of Ellen Kishmore in the romantic comedy Elizabethtown. She then played the title character in the indie film London. In 2005, Esquire magazine named her the "Sexiest Woman Alive" in a 2005 six-part series, with each month revealing a different body part and clue to the woman's identity.^[6]

2006–2011: Success [edit]

In 2006, Biel played a turn-of-the-century duchess in the period piece The Illusionist, co-starring Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti. Biel played an Iraq War veteran in the 2006 film Home of the Brave, a drama about soldiers struggling to readjust to society after facing the hardships of war. In Next, Biel played alongside Nicolas Cage and Julianne Moore. She then played in the summer comedy, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, co-starring Adam Sandler and Kevin James. In late 2007, Biel signed on to play a stripper in Powder Blue, alongside Forest Whitaker (who also produced the film), Ray Liotta and Patrick Swayze. In 2007, Stuff magazine's named her No. 1 on their "100 Sexiest Women".^[25]

At the start of 2008, Biel shot Easy Virtue, an adaptation of the play by Noël Coward. Like the play, the film is set in the 1920s and Biel plays young widow Larita, who impulsively marries John Whittaker in France and must face her disapproving in-laws on returning to England. The film premiered in September 2008 at the Toronto International Film Festival.^[26] Critics praised Biel for her performance, with Todd McCarthy of Variety saying Biel "more than kept up" with veterans Kristin Scott Thomas and Colin Firth and praising her "sparkling" performance.^[27][28] The Hollywood Reporter described her performance as "an irresistible force of nature — a kind, witty, supremely intelligent and beautiful woman who ... is capable of rejoinders that thoroughly undercut her opponent's withering criticism."^[29] Biel also performed two songs on the film's soundtrack, "Mad About the Boy" and "When the Going Gets Tough".

Biel at the 81st Academy Awards in 2009

In 2009, Biel lent her voice to the animated science fiction film Planet 51. In April 2008, Biel began working on the political satire Nailed, with Jake Gyllenhaal. The film centers around a woman who accidentally gets a nail lodged in her head, then travels to Washington D.C. to fight for better health care. Biel performed the role of Sarah Brown with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a fully staged concert production of Guys and Dolls during the 2009 season at the Hollywood Bowl.^[30][31] On the last night, she received a rousing standing ovation from 17,000 people.^[8] She subsequently landed a part in Lincoln Center Theater's two-week-long workshop of the musical version of the Pedro Almodóvar classic Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, along with Salma Hayek.^[8]

In 2010, Biel starred in the large ensemble cast film Valentine's Day and in the A-Team, based on the television series as Capt. Charisa Sosa. In 2011, she appeared in New Year's Eve, directed by Valentine's Day's Garry Marshall.

Recent and upcoming projects [edit]

In 2012, she starred in the remake of the 1990 science fiction movie Total Recall alongside Colin Farrell and Kate Beckinsale. She portrayed actress Vera Miles in the biographical film Hitchcock, based on Stephen Rebello's book Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho. She also appeared in Playing for Keeps with Gerard Butler.

Biel starred in the thriller film Emanuel and the Truth About Fishes, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 18, 2013.

Personal life [edit]

Biel began dating singer and actor Justin Timberlake in January 2007.^[32][33] After four years together, the couple announced their split in March 2011.^[34][35] However, by fall 2011, the couple reunited, and in late December 2011, Timberlake proposed to Biel in the mountains of Jackson, Wyoming.^[36][37][38] The couple married on October 19, 2012, at the Borgo Egnazia resort in Fasano, Italy.^[39]

Philanthropy [edit]

On July 18, 2006, Biel participated in a charity auction to raise medical funds for Colorado teen Molly Bloom, who was injured in a limousine accident.^[40] John Schiffner of Fergus Falls, Minnesota successfully bid $30,000 to have lunch with Biel. "I promise I'm a cheap date," Biel quipped. Biel and Schiffner lunched at The Palm restaurant in Denver, Colorado^[41] on August 18, 2006.^[42] In early 2007, Jessica co-founded the Make the Difference Network, with her father and another business partner, Kent McBride.^[43] In 2010, Biel climbed to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro with members of the United Nation Foundation to raise awareness of the global water crisis.^[44] That same year, Biel's humanitarian and charity work (as well as her popularity with young people) earned her a nomination for a Do Something Award.^[45]

Filmography [edit]

Awards and nominations [edit]

References [edit]

External links [edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jessica Biel

• Jessica Biel at the Internet Movie Database
• Jessica Biel at AllRovi
• Jessica Biel at People.com