Jessica Alba: Fantastic Woman

Jessica Alba has an air of self-possession and maturity that belies her age. Cool and composed, the 26-year-old sits on a sofa in her Beverly Hills hotel suite, sipping a latte. Slim, but not skinny, she has just eaten a hearty breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast and is clearly baffled by the size zero debate. 'My happiness isn't dictated by what other people want or how they see me.

I don't feel I have to conform,' she says. 'I have always been a leader, not a follower. I don't diet and I cook. I love brownies and I probably drink too much coffee, but other than that I don't have any unhealthy attitudes towards food.' Jessica is opinionated and articulate and you can see why she has become a member of the elite group of young actresses (including Scarlett Johansson and Kirsten Dunst) who command $5 million pay cheques.

She is captivating with caramel skin, brown eyes and honey-blond hair but what distinguishes her from many of her Hollywood contemporaries is a presence that can only be described as regal, which is fascinating because the actress grew up in a rough Los Angeles suburb. Still happily together, her Mexican father Mark and Danish/French mother Catherine married while they were in their teens and had two children in quick succession Jessica has a younger brother, Joshua.

'My dad made $14,000 a year working in the air force; he now works as an estate agent. My mum worked at a youth centre, a clothing store and at McDonald's. For a long time we lived on air force bases in government housing, then when I was nine we moved to Los Angeles, into my grandparents' house. Financially, we were poor, we wore charity-shop clothes and were always on a budget. My parents did their best, but it was tough. I'm really happy that I don't live like that any more,' she says quietly.

It is unlikely that she will have to return to those stressful times. Her latest film is the summer blockbuster Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. She plays Susan Storm (aka the Invisible Woman) in the sequel to the popular 2005 hit, based on the Marvel comic books.

The first film turned Jessica into an international star.

Jessica claims that from an early age she had a feeling that she was destined for greater things. 'I always felt as if I had been born into the wrong family I felt that I should have been royal,' she smiles. 'I knew I would have to get out of that environment and make a lot of money, so I created that for myself at a young age as an actress. I was performing for the family by the time I was three.' By the time she was 11, Jessica was pleading with her parents to pay for acting classes, and finally persuaded them to let her enter a drama competition the winner would get an agent and a series of auditions. 'I won the prize, came to Beverly Hills, started getting work and never stopped,' she says with a shrug, making the whole thing sound effortless. She attended auditions, despite the reservations of her father.

'He'd say, "This is a nice hobby but you're going to have to get a real job,"' says Jessica.

However, she was soon landing lucrative acting jobs, including a regular role on TV series "Flipper", which entailed months in Australia. Jessica had no qualms about leaving Los Angeles because she hated school. 'I had nothing in common with the other girls; they were into being the cutest or the most popular, whereas I was worried about making money and getting the next job.'

There was also an overriding feeling that she was an outsider, because of her mixed heritage.

'Everything was very segregated,' she says. 'White girls hung out in a group; there was another group of Hispanic girls; black girls had their own group.

I was shunned by the Latin community for not being Latin enough, which is why I liked acting so much and wanted to find my own path.' Working solidly to achieve her goals meant formidable dedication. 'I was on location in lots of different countries. It really taught me discipline.

I don't think you can be successful in this business without being driven it's so brutal.' What makes Jessica's early success extraordinary is that she suffered from serious health problems, related to childhood asthma, including collapsed lungs and repeated bouts of pneumonia, which meant she spent weeks at a time in hospital. 'I had a lot of time in bed to figure out what made me happy,' she says, 'and I learned how to talk to adults and really communicate, which I didn't mind because I didn't have much in common with people my own age. I grew out of the asthma, so I can't complain.' Jessica's career reached a new level when she was just 17 and Titanic director James Cameron picked her out of thousands of beautiful young hopefuls to star in his sci-fi TV series "Dark Angel".

'My dad came on the set and realised that acting could be a real career and he was proud of me.' The show only survived two seasons, but Jessica made a seamless transition into films with a supporting role in Never Been Kissed with Drew Barrymore. She played a stripper in Sin City, starred in the underwater thriller Into the Blue and was cast as the sexy superhero in The Fantastic Four.

Because of the unexpected success of the first film, which grossed $330 million worldwide, along with Jessica's elevated standing in the Hollywood power structure, her part is much more interesting this time. 'In the last one I was just rushing in saying: "Oh my God, let's run." In this film Sue has more depth. It's a richer role.' In a blond wig and a costume with muscular padding to magnify the character's prowess, Jessica's Susan Storm is set to save the world from catastrophe, along with the other three members of the comic book team: Chris Evans as Johnny Storm (the Human Torch), Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm (the Thing) and the group's leader, Ioan Gruffudd, as Reed Richards (Mr Fantastic).

Was there special physical training for the role? 'Not really, because a lot of the action is computer generated,' she says. 'But I had to look good and I hate exercise,' she laughs. 'I get so bored, so I just do anything that keeps me from wanting to kill myself when I am in the gym like listening to my music on level 100.' The new film is set to be spectacular, with more action and special effects than the original, as the Fantastic Four confront the Silver Surfer, a powerful entity intent on destroying the world. (Laurence Fishburne is the voice of the 'surfer'.)

And this time Sue Storm has a more interesting story line. She is getting married to her boyfriend, Mr Fantastic, and they are planning a family. 'This is all about a woman believing in her man and standing by him even when he feels the weight of the world on his shoulders. There are great parallels to the kind of complex things that people go through in real relationships. This group of superheroes bicker and fight with each other but still save the world.' Would she do a Fantastic Four 3? 'I hope we'll do another,' she says. 'I think Sue needs to be a mother. It would be fun to see her try to juggle being a mother, a wife and a superhero.'

In her own life, Jessica is dating filmmaker Cash Warren, 28, whom she met on the set of the first Fantastic Four, where he was an assistant director. She refuses to discuss the relationship, or reports that they are about to get engaged, but does tell me that she loves 'funny guys. I like the manly guy who can be romantic, but who's in touch with his feelings and can also watch sport and hang out with my dad.' What about settling down and starting a family? 'No,' she says firmly.

'Maybe in a few years. Right now, anyone in a relationship with me has to learn that I'm just not going to be around all the time.' Apart from a busy film schedule, Jessica recently signed a $5 million modelling contract with Revlon. 'I still can't believe it,' she says. 'It's an iconic company. My mother is very girlie and loves makeup, so she is thrilled.' Meanwhile, Jessica constantly leads the polls in men's magazines as the world's sexiest star. Isn't it flattering? 'Well it is all so bizarre to me because when I was young, no one ever asked me out on a date. I was nobody's "type", so this is very weird.

But, yes, it is flattering.' The quality of roles is changing, though.

She's still offered the predictable male fantasy/stripper scripts, but also more substantial parts. She is appearing in her first comedy, Good Luck Chuck.

'I'm the one people make fun of, which is much more interesting.' She has a new medical thriller out in a few months, Awake: 'It's great because I look normal,' she says. 'I'm not fighting anyone and I don't have to wear a bathing suit.' She's also starring in Sin City 2. 'When you have more success you get better opportunities. I feel like I'm more dynamic than just a cut-out doll, which is how people often saw me,' says Jessica.

What is most striking about the actress is her single-minded determination.

She says she does take time off; an ideal day would involve a long hike with her bulldog Bowie and pug Sid Vicious, lunch with a girlfriend and a few hours curled up with a novel. 'I like to get lost in someone else's reality.'

But her own reality, which essentially boils down to her film career, appears to be the overriding concern. Jessica is also forging a path as a producer.

Her role models, she says, are 'Tom Cruise and Will Smith, because they really understand a brand and go for it. By "brand" I mean the ability to open movies worldwide and dictate what you want out of that entire experience, and that is yet to be done by women.' If the actress's story so far is anything to go by, that state of affairs is about to change. While she will inevitably continue to top those sexiest star polls, expect to see the name Jessica Alba turning up in business magazines too on the list of Hollywood's wealthiest and most powerful players.

Now that would really make her happy.

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer will be released on Friday

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