There’s no denying that a lot of Jessica Alba’s early roles were incredibly sexy ones. Her big screen debut, Honey, saw her doing a lot of sexy dancing, she was part of Marvel superhero movie history by playing Sue Storm in her skin-tight suit, and then there were more sexy dance moves from playing a stripper in the cast of Sin City. The California native spoke candidly about the struggles she faced being classified as a sex symbol early in her career.
When young actresses come into the film scene with striking sex appeal, they face the struggle of getting typecast based on their physique compared to playing a well-developed character. Trevor Noah asked Jessica Alba on his podcast What Now? if the Spy Kids 4 actress was ever “pigeonholed” into “sex bomb” types of roles throughout her career. Here was her honest response:
I think that no matter what role, whether I was doing like a dance movie, you know, to inspire young girls like ‘Honey,’ or if I was ‘Dark Angel’ where I was a genetically engineered, like, super human, or if I was Sue Storm, who was a very, like, maternal kind of superhero, they would always feel like they needed to sell me to the fanboys in a certain way. And it wasn't just me, it was all of us right at the time. And so yes, there were like two or three of these men's magazines that we would all do to, you know, try and get those fanboys to go and show up and watch whatever it is that we were selling. But I would always try to do three to four women's magazines. So for every one guy’s, I would do three to four women's to try and keep the balance there. You have to be strategic. I think it taught me when I thought about longevity in the business, I think being portrayed that way forced me to be even more strategic. Probably in a very early age.
I can definitely see Jessica Alba taking a stand in the business to ensure she wasn’t just seen as eye candy. Just like she made sure to appear in women’s magazines as well as men’s, the Golden Globe nominee has also taken a stance against doing nude scenes. Her reasoning is that she would be embarrassed if her family saw her on-screen in her birthday suit, and I can’t say I blame her on that front.
Alba also wasn’t on board with the sex scenes she was supposed to do for Machete. So, she asked the film’s director Robert Rodriquez to remove them. The Good Luck Chuck actress clearly isn’t afraid to speak her mind on what she is and isn’t willing to do in a movie, and I commend her for that.
Trevor Noah continued to throw back to Jessica Alba about how in early interviews, she spoke about wanting to do more behind-the-scenes roles so she had more control of her environment. This made the Valentine’s Day actress admit that she felt she couldn’t be everything she wanted to be in the industry:
I think it's difficult for people once they have I think an idea of who you are in their mind and they've put you in Maxim and you're in Esquire and GQ and you know, they have you in those things, it’s tough for them to imagine that you could be intelligent, that you could have a soul, that you could have depth of emotions, or be dynamic in any way. And I think I also had to wrestle with those stereotypes, even on myself. It took me probably three years after I founded Honest until I really started to embrace the notion that I could be smart.
I can understand where Jessica Alba is coming from. When you’re labeled a sex symbol, people see you as just a body without noticing you have a brain to go with it. Like Alba referenced, she’s the co-founder of The Honest Company which sells baby, household and personal products. Running your own business requires major brain power the A-list actress undoubtedly has.
The Little Fockers actress will also star in and co-executive produce the Netflix action movie Trigger Warning. In this Netflix new release, Alba plays a kick-ass Special Forces commando who finds herself mixed up with a violent gang after she takes over her late father’s bar. Based on what’s shown in the trailer, it looks like her character Parker is in no way a sex symbol, as she’s too busy using knives, machetes and guns against her enemies compared to anything else involving her body.
The early part of Jessica Alba’s career may have classified her as a sex symbol, but she’s shown in recent years that she’s got so much more to offer. With her Honest Company and headlining a strong heroine character for a new Netflix movie, I have a feeling we’re about to see a new chapter forming in the talented actress.
Make sure to see a whole new side of Jessica Alba in Trigger Warning, coming to your Netflix subscription on June 21st.
