Jessica Claire Biel
Jessica was born on March 3, 1982 in Ely, Minnesota and spent her childhood in Boulder, Colorado. She grew up with her parents Jon and Kim Biel and her younger brother Justin. Jessica went to Fairview High School in Boulder where she was a good student. Jessica started doing plays at the age of nine with roles in The Sound of Music, Annie, Beauty and the Beast, and Anything Goes. Prior to landing her role on 7th heaven, Jessica spent the last two years modeling for such campaigns as ” Limited Too” (see picture on the right).
Jessica was first discovered while competing at the International Modeling and Talent Association’s Los Angeles Convention, in 1994 (click here for their homepage – click here for an Interview with Jess). Her participation in the conference led to her being awarded a scholarship to the Diane Hardin’s Young Actors Space, an acting society in Los Angeles. While attending Young Actor’s Space, Jessica was discovered by her current manager Jeff Morrone at Innovative Artists. What followed were several modeling covers including Sassy Magazine in ’96, Teen and Moxie Girl in 1998, and the huge honor from People Magazine in ’99 when they named her one of the worlds 50 most beautiful people.
Her on-screen career began in 1996 where she played Mary Camden, the oldest daughter of a minister couple in 7th Heaven. She also appeared in the feature film “It’s A Digital World,” and has numerous television commercials to her credit. In 1997 Jessica starred with Peter Fonda in Ulee’s Gold, her role as the rebellious teen Casey made critics take notice of the young actress. You can read a review of the movie here. In 1998 Jessica played opposite Jonathan Taylor Thomas in I’ll Be Home For Christmas.
In 2000 Jessica, 17 years old, tried to get out of her contract with Spelling and the WB by posing semi-nude in March Edition of Gear Magazine. It was not only the pictures but also the article that shocked some people that identified Jess with Mary Camden. Anyway, Aaron Spelling didn’t let her out of contract. Now, Jessica regrets Gear (“That was such a big mistake. I made a horrible, horrible choice. Those were not the people to work with and not the right thing for myself.”) and is still appearing in some episodes of 7th Heaven.
From 2000 to 2002 Jessica attended Tufts University in Massachusetts but lateron dropped out to focus on her acting career again.
In August 2001 Jessica starred opposite Freddie Prinze Jr. in the movie Summer Catch. Many more sucessful movies (The Rules of Attraction, The Texas Chainsaw Masacre, Cellular, Blade: Trinity) followed.
In 2005 Jessica was named Sexiest Woman Alive by Esquire magazine and starred in the movies Stealth and London. The Illusionist (2006), Home eof the Brave (2006), Next (2007) and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007) followed.
For Jessica’s most recent movies check out the credits section of the website.
In 2004 Jessica and her father, Jon Biel, have partnered with two other social entrepreneurs to develop a website called Make The Difference Network. MTDN is a National Wish List where people can search, find, and fund Wishes and Needs posted by non-profits organizations.
