Performing comes naturally for former star of Dark Angel
by Alina Cole, Reporter

   Jessica Alba has made her mark on the entertainment business, most famously for her dramatic role in James Cameron’s Dark Angel.
   The actress also is known for playing supporting roles in the studio films Idle Hands and Never Been Kissed.
   Beginning her acting career at the age of 12, Jessica knew she wanted to entertain.
   “I just liked to entertain. My whole family is full of entertainers—singers, painters, sculptors—even if they are just entertaining each other,” she said during a press conference in Dallas last week.
   With the support of her family, Alba had her goal in sight: to be an actress.
   Starting out with smaller roles, Alba had to work for her career to expand.
   “I moved to L.A. I got an agent and began going to auditions.”
   Getting the starring role in Fox’s Dark Angel at the age of 17, she took on the hardest hurdle of her early career.
   “The training for that show was unlike anything I’ve ever done. I had to learn to fight, and I trained for a whole year,” the young actress said.
   Alba’s most recent project, Honey, has her playing a dance instructor by day and bartender by night trying to get a break in the dance business.
   Alba said her hardest feat preparing for this film was dancing because she had never taken dance lessons and had no dance experience prior to the movie.
   “When I was a kid, I would dance in front of the mirror, acting like Janet Jackson, but that was the extent of it,” she said.
   The actress had three months of dance training prior to the movie’s shoot and had to practice long hours to prepare herself for the demanding role.
   “I took basic ballet, jazz and hip-hop. I had to learn all the different dance terminology like ‘eight counts’ I had never heard of,” she said.
   “I just wanted to give the dance community some justice,” she said.
   Shooting for the movie took about three months, and in that time, Alba said she got close to the cast.
   “They become your short-term family,” she said about working with a professional cast.
   Alba said she made it clear to the casting director that she knew whom she wanted to play opposite her in the film.
   Mekhi Phifer, who plays on NBC’s critically acclaimed ER and played in the recent movie 8 Mile, was Alba’s first choice to play the role.
   “I saw him in Soul Food and thought he was great, not only his looks but his presence and his heart just glow through,” she said of the actor.
   Alba also was allowed to play a large part in the development of the film.
   She was given a chance to participate in the production by making corrections and additions to her character Honey Daniels’ portrayal.
   “My whole heart is in it. I wanted it to be inspirational and uplifting,” she said.
   When discussing her wishes for the audience, Alba expressed her desire for the movie to impact all people.
   “I don’t believe anything should be limited to race or gender. I want to reach everyone.”
  With her first leading role in a movie finished, Jessica Alba at the age of 22 has just begun her impact on the industry.