50 interesting facts about Jessica Biel: climbed Mountain Kilimanjaro, was a model

Jessica Biel is a beautiful and talented actress, known for her work in the series 7th Heaven and films like The Illusionist and Total Recall. She is married to actor and singer Justin Timberlake.

1. She was born Jessica Claire Biel in Ely, Minnesota on March 3, 1982.

2. The day after Jessica was born, her parents took her to a dog sled race where the temperature was thirty degrees below zero!

3. Jessica Biel is of German, French, English and Native American (Choctaw) heritage.

4. As child Jessica tried out many times to play the role of Annie. When she was eight she was cast as a back-up Annie, but she was never actually put on stage.

5. She once wanted to become a musical star after winning a karaoke contest when she was aged eight.

6. Her very first acting job was in a Pringles commercial when she was 11 years old!

7. When she was 12, she attended the International Model and Talent Association and began modeling in advertisements and commercials.

8. She won an acting scholarship to the Young Actor's Space at 11 years old.

9. She studied acting with Ivana Chubbuck.

10. Jessica Biel's teen idol crush was Mark-Paul Gosselaar from the hit TV series Saved by the Bell. She told In Style magazine, "Yes, I was in love with him...it just must have been that Zack Morris flattop."

11. Jessica's career started at age 14 when she played alongside Peter Fonda in his Golden Globe-winning Ulee's Gold. Other credits include "I'll Be Home for Christmas", "Summer Catch", and "Roger Avary's The Rules of Attraction".

12. Jessica Biel became a household name as Mary Camden on The Warner Brother's TV show "7th Heaven".

13. She was a leading star on "7th Heaven" for seasons 1-6.

14. She has had guest roles on "7th Heaven" since season 7. In the show, Mary Camden was the eldest daughter and the second eldest child. The show premiered in 1996.

15. She is best friends with co-star Beverley Mitchell.

16. She agreed to return for the season 10 finale of 7th Heaven (originally the series finale before the show got picked up by the CW) after Brenda Hampton begged her to. The episode had already been shot but Hampton was determined to have Biel back for one last time. Jessica filmed her brief scenes during a break from filming Next (2007).

17. She auditioned for a role in American Beauty in 1999.

18. In 2000, Jessica Biel posed topless in a layout of Gear magazine. It was controversial because she was only 17 at the time of the shoot.

19. The sexy images contained inside, along with several negative comments about her role on the WB, incensed some 7th Heaven fans, as well as the show's producers. Biel later admitted that she agreed to the shoot in order to get out of her contract with the network.

20. The WB forced Biel to honor the duration of her contract. She did manage to appear in fewer episodes of the show due to her schedule at Tufts University.

21. After completing her first year at college, Biel returned to Los Angeles to focus on feature films.

22. She starred opposite Freddie Prinze Jr. in the 2001 romantic comedy Summer Catch.

23. Biel took a supporting role in the 2002 film adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis's Rules of Attraction, and then turned to the horror genre with the 2003 remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Rules of Attraction proved to be a commercial and critical dud, but Texas Chainsaw Massacre became a box office hit.

24. In 2003, Biel began work on the third installment of the Blade film series, Blade: Trinity. Despite negative reviews of the installment, it was a box-office hit grossing $150 million worldwide.

25. Almost immediately after finishing it in 2004, she headed to Australia to shoot the action-thriller Stealth.

26. She was cast in the role of Ellen Kishmore in the romantic comedy Elizabethtown. She then played the title character in the indie film London.

27. She does not like wearing a lot of make up. Jessica Biel does not like a lot of makeup. She told PEOPLE , "It's pointless and I hate it."

28. She was voted "Sexiest Woman Alive" by Esquire magazine in 2005.

29. Jessica has played the role of girlfriend/ex-girlfriend of real life ex-boyfriend Chris Evans twice...Once in Cellular in 2004 and again in the movie London in 2005. They split up in 2006.

30. In her free time, she loves photography and taking classes to improve her art form.

31. After a string of lackluster projects, Biel earned positive reviews for her role in The Illusionist (2006), a romantic historical drama starring Edward Norton. The film helped establish Biel as a dramatic actress.

32. She won a Newport Beach Film Festival Award for her performance in the 2006 film The Illusionist.

33. On July 18, 2006, Biel participated in a charity auction to raise medical funds for Colorado teen Molly Bloom, who was injured in a limousine accident.

34. In early 2007, Jessica co-founded the Make the Difference Network, with her father and another business partner, Kent McBride.

35. Biel performed the role of Sarah Brown with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a fully staged concert production of Guys and Dolls during the 2009 season at the Hollywood Bowl. On the last night, she received a rousing standing ovation from 17,000 people.

36. In April 2008, Biel began working on the political satire Nailed, with Jake Gyllenhaal. The film centers around a woman who accidentally gets a nail lodged in her head, then travels to Washington D.C. to fight for better health care.

37. She subsequently landed a part in Lincoln Center Theater's two-week-long workshop of the musical version of the Pedro Almodóvar classic Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, along with Salma Hayek.

38. In 2010, Biel climbed to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro with members of the United Nations Foundation to raise awareness of the global water crisis. The "Summit on the Summit" lasted seven days.

39. In 2010, Biel starred in the large ensemble cast film Valentine's Day and in the A-Team, based on the television series as Capt. Charisa Sosa.

40. In 2011, she appeared in New Year's Eve, directed by Valentine's Day's Garry Marshall.

41. Not only is she married to a Justin, but her brother is also named Justin.

42. She began dating Justin Timberlake in 2007, and the couple got hitched on October 19, 2012.

43. Biel and Timberlake issued a statement to People magazine, following their wedding: "It's great to be married, the ceremony was beautiful and it was so special to be surrounded by our family and friends."

44. She has a dog named East.

45. Biel likes to Collect vintage glasses with no lenses and enjoys going to roadside flea markets and thrift stores to find them.

46. Jessica is 5′ 8″ / 173 cm tall.

47. In 2009, Biel lent her voice to the animated science fiction film, Planet 51.

48. In 2009, Biel starred in Easy Virtue with Colin Firth and Kristin Scott Thomas. She played Larita, an American who impulsively marries a young British man and then must deal with her new upper-crust in-laws.

49. Biel took on a physically challenging role in the 2012 remake Total Recall starring Colin Farrell. In the film, she had battle it out with co-star Kate Beckinsale.

50. Jessica Biel's net worth is $18 million.