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| Jessica Biel |
Jessica Claire Biel was born in Ely, Minnesota. Her mother, Kimberly (n�e Conroe), is a homemaker and spiritual healer. Her father, Jonathan Biel, worked for GE and was also an entrepreneur and business consultant. She is of German, French, English, and Choctaw ancestry and has a younger brother, Justin, born in 1985. 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 and also trained as a gymnast. From 2000 to 2002, she attended Tufts University.
Early work
Jessica Biel initially trained to be a vocalist, and from age nine 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. Biel auditioned for the a cappella choir the Tufts Amalgamates, but was not accepted.
At twelve, Biel attended The International Modeling and Talent Association conference in Los Angeles where she was discovered and signed by a talent agency. She began modeling for print advertisements, and appeared in commercials for products such as Dulux Paint and Pringles.
Biel also played the character Regrettal, a lead role in a low-budget musical short titled It's a Digital World, but the film was never released. At fourteen, after auditioning for several television pilots, Jessica Biel was cast as Mary Camden, the oldest daughter in the family drama 7th Heaven.
Career
1997�2002
Jessica 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. In spring 1998, during a break from filming 7th Heaven, Biel starred in I'll Be Home for Christmas, playing the love interest of Jonathan Taylor Thomas.
She posed semi-nude for the cover of Gear magazine. The shoot sparked considerable controversy as Biel was still under eighteen at the time. Producers of 7th Heaven were outraged, and brought legal action against Gear magazine. She later stated that she regrets the Gear shoot but considers it a learning experience.
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| Jessica Biel |
2003�2005
Biel was cast in her first top-billing role in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. 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. In 2003, Biel began work on the third installment of the Blade film series, Blade: Trinity. Almost immediately after finishing it in 2004, she headed to Australia to shoot the action-thriller Stealth. Biel also made a cameo appearance in the 2004 film Cellular.
Jessica 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.
2006�present
Biel's film career blossomed when she played a turn-of-the-century duchess in the period piece The Illusionist, co-starring Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti.
Jessica Biel played an Iraq War veteran in the 2006 film Home of the Brave, a drama about soldiers struggling to adjust back into 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.
At the start of 2008, Biel shot Easy Virtue, an adaptation of the play by No�l 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. 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. 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." Biel also performed two songs on the film's soundtrack, "Mad About the Boy" and "When the Going Gets Tough".
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.
Jessica 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. On the last night, she received a rousing standing ovation from 17,000 people. She subsequently landed a part in Lincoln Center Theater's two-week-long workshop of the musical version of the Pedro Almod�var classic Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, along with Salma Hayek.
Filmography
1996�2006 7th Heaven
1997 Ulee's Gold
1998 I'll Be Home for Christmas
2001 Summer Catch
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| Jessica Biel |
2003 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
2004 It's a Digital World
2004 Cellular
2004 Blade: Trinity
2005 Stealth
2005 Elizabethtown
2005 London
2005 Family Guy
2006 The Illusionist
2006 Home of the Brave
2007 Next
2007 I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry
2008 Hole in the Paper Sky
2008 Easy Virtue
2009 Planet 51
2009 Powder Blue
2010 Valentine's Day
2010 The A-Team
2011 The Tall Man
2011 New Year's Eve
2012 Playing the Field
2012 Total Recall
2012 The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea Catalogues>> Jessica Biel Biography
