Jessica Biel: Summer Schoolgirl

Pretty Jessica Biel has played Mary Camden for the past four years on the 7th Heaven TV series. In Summer Catch, a romantic film with a baseball theme, she's a rich girl in love with Freddie Prinze Jr's, working class hero. She's returning to her TV show full time which she'll juggle with school (Jessica attends Tufts College in Massachusetts) and the occasional movie appearance. When we talked with her recently in Los Angeles, she was super friendly and spoke about her boyfriend (7th Heaven's Adam LaVorgna), her love for her pets, her health and beauty regimen, college experiences and her regrets about posing au naturel for a certain magazine.

Teenhollywood: Summer Catch is loaded with cute guys. Freddie Prinze Jr. says that your boyfriend Adam got jealous when all those guys were flirting and called you hot. What's with that?

Jessica: He came to the set a few times. I think it was a little uncomfortable (for him). There were guys all over the place. If I were in his place I would have felt the same way but he wasn't some psycho crazy man. if there were girls in bikinis everywhere believe me, I'd be around.

Teenhollywood: Is it tough to have a long distance romance? What makes it work?

Jessica: Yes (it's difficult). Honesty, trust, phone bills.

Teenhollywood: Do you have a favorite song as a couple?

Jessica: Yeah. We really love Have you Ever Loved a Woman. I played it for him and he loved it. I think if he was here he'd say that.

Teenhollywood: What did you do to prepare for your role in Summer Catch?

Jessica: I feel that I'm very similar to the character and then I just thought of myself older. What am I going to be like? I'm going to be more secure and mature. I tried to make her a little refined and sophisticated in the way she spoke. Not very "slang." I have a problem with saying 'You know,' you know? I'm doing it! I didn't want to do that. I watched my posture.

Teenhollywood: You look amazing in this movie. Did you have to work out a lot?

Jessica: I keep a pretty normal workout schedule. I don't like to stop and let myself go for a while. I'm a big runner. I run on the beach. I do Thai-Bo and I go to the gym. I switch it up a lot. I don't like to do the same thing over and over. I'm starting ballet again. It's the best workout you could ever imagine. And, I'm starting gymnastics which I did for six years.

Teenhollywood: What do you eat?

Jessica: I've never dieted. I love food but I'm a big Zone diet fan. It makes a lot of sense to me with the balancing of carbohydrates and proteins. But I stray from that. I eat what I want in moderation.

Teenhollywood: You go to Tufts University. How is that going?

Jessica; I'm in a dorm room with a roommate. I go to the cafeteria and eat that crappy food. The first few months of school I felt like eyes were on me and then I just became like everybody else. I was waking up with bed-head, missing my alarm clock wake-up and barely making it to class in a pair of sweat pants and a tee shirt. Then it's, 'Oh, she's not that special anymore'.

Teenhollywood: Was it important to you to get an education?

Jessica: From when I was a little girl my father has always said 'College is important and you're gonna go'. I wanted that experience. My entire high school was in a trailer with a tutor and that was great but I wanted that bohemian lifestyle with a roommate sharing a bathroom. That sounded great to me. I'd never done that. I'd never been to school with the same kids every day.

Teenhollywood: Then college must have been weird for you.

Jessica: I was in my own world, the dorm and my classes. I was cut off from my Hollywood lifestyle. I even got to the point of feeling, 'Oh, it's going on without me.'

Sometimes on a Sunday afternoon when I had a six page paper due Monday, I would have that feeling that I'm being forgotten about. I didn't shut myself off but I just forgot about the other half of my lifestyle.

Teenhollywood: Did you want less time on 7th Heaven?

Jessica: Well, that's how I wanted it when I went to school. At first the studio didn't want me to go which makes a lot of sense businesswise. But, they did let me go which is an amazing thing. Now, I'm coming back this year and I'll be in every episode.

Teenhollywood: Did Adam keep you up to date on what was going on?

Jessica: Yeah. When I was in Massachusetts I knew everything that was happening.

Teenhollywood: There are some pretty hot swimsuit scenes of you in this film. Do you look and think, "Whoa, I'm hot?"

Jessica: (laughs). No. When I turn around I'm watching and going 'Oh, how big is my butt!.' I'm looking at the details going 'Oh, I had a scratch that needed to be covered,' I'm definitely not thinking I'm hot.

Teenhollywood: Are you into being a 'clothes horse' in real life?

Jessica: No. I look more like Mary (on 7th Heaven). I'm in T-shirt and jeans almost always but I do like to shop. I'm a little overly crazed about shoes but Adam has more shoes than I do. He's got so many basketball shoes. He's so funny. He'll come back with about three (pairs) of them and go 'Look what I got.' And I'm going 'They're very similar.' He's such a sports fanatic.

Teenhollywood: For the teen girls out there, what are the five make-up essentials you've just got to have?

Jessica: I always have sunscreen and chapstick, lip gloss, black eyeliner. I'll go to Save-On. I like the "Wet and Wild" 99 cent black pencil and the Maybelleine Great Lash in the pink bottle. I'm not at all a "Mac" girl. Actually I take stuff from the set. I took home the chapstick and the lip pencil and some of the Capri's pants and tank tops.

Teenhollywood: What would your ideal Summer Catch be like?

Jessica: I originally liked tall, dark and handsome men like every other woman in the world but now I love a sense of humor. I don't care what you look like if you're a blast, a riot. I love being around people who love to laugh. I love to be silly. You can't take longer than me to get ready. I hate guys who do that. Really calm and laid back people. People who are sporty and athletic, like to go running on the beach with me or play Frisbee, hang out with animals.

Teenhollywood: Do you have pets?

Jessica: Yeah. I have a cocker spaniel named Freckles and a black cat, from a shelter, Kit Cat and another cat I saved. In Santa Monica at a market, this woman saves these abandoned animals and gives them away. I was coming back from taking my SAT's and I was feeling like I rock. I rule. I walked past and saw this little white cat in a cage and I looked at him and he meowed and put his little paws through the cage and touched my face and I just went, 'Dad, can I have a cat?' I named him Blue for his blue eyes. He's the coolest cat. My parents live in Boulder and he comes and walks up the mountains with us. He just follows.

Teenhollywood: What is it about Freddie that makes him such a star?

Jessica: He's really handsome in real life as well and he's a nice person, a very courteous person to me as a friend and an actor. He was so supportive while we were shooting. Was there any line that I didn't feel comfortable about? If I didn't feel like going to the director, he'd go with me. I said 'I'm a little nervous. I've never played this leading lady type of thing' and he was just there with a supportive hug.

Teenhollywood: When you look back on that whole posing-in-the-magazine scandal, do you regret that now?

Jessica: Yes. I do regret that. I was a really rebellious teenager. It was just a time I was going through. I didn't want my parents telling me what to do. I didn't want anyone else telling me what to do and I got involved with the wrong people and made a really bad decision that effected a lot of people and I do regret it. I've really learned from it. It's been sort of a blessing is disguise.

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Interviewer and writer Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.