‘I’VE BEEN DRAWN TO STRONG WOMEN’
Actor Jessica Alba has always gravitated towards strong female characters, and says that it is very important to represent complex women who aren’t perfect or have flaws on screen, and show that they can still be heroes.
“I have always been drawn to strong women in characters that I played. I dabbled in playing some characters that were a little more passive but I don’t know if I pulled it off that well,” Jessica said. She further added, “I naturally have that sort of approach and that’s my energy and my vibe. So I always think that when I started of as an actor, that was kind of my thing — why can’t we be strong and intelligent and selfsufficient. Even if you are a woman, that shouldn’t mean that you need to be weak and saved constantly.”
On the big screen, Alba has featured in Fantastic Four, Into the Blue (both 2005) and The Eye (2008). She has also worked on TV shows such as Flipper, Dark Angel and The Spoils of Babylon.
She said, “I feel like I have always played those (stereotypical) roles. But being a mother to a little girl, you realise how important or how impressionable media and pop culture can be on men. So it kind of makes the damage important to address. For me, as an executive producer, it’s important to push that message forward and to make sure that we shape a show that has complex women who aren’t perfect and have flaws but can still be heroes.”
At present, the actor is earning plaudits for police procedural drama L.A.’s Finest, which also stars Gabrielle Union. She is also backing the show as an executive producer.
“What drew me back in is really just being able to collaborate with Gabrielle Union. She is a force in Hollywood and I have always respected her. She took this franchise, that she was a part of, and turned it into a real feminist show in a genre where you really don’t get to see women as lead,” she said.
It’s important to push the message forward that we shape a show that has complex women who aren’t perfect but can still be heroes.
JESSICA ALBA, ACTOR
Jessica further added, “The show is built around two women, and even with the action genre you know that there are comical elements to it. There’s fun action, there’s moments where there’s lots of drama and all of that. You never lose the fact that we are women, and we’re partners and we’re in this together and we have each other’s back.”
She went on to share, “And I just feel like in entertainment, as in pop culture, you don’t usually get to see two women who’re strong and powerful in their own, right. They have separate identities but they do have each other’s back. And I think this is just a great commentary and something that will resonate with audiences across the globe.”