15 Reasons Why Hollywood Dropped Jessica Alba
By Tania Di Palma – Mar 07, 2018
It is startling to believe that Hollywood won’t cast the gorgeous Jessica Alba anymore, but that is currently the matter of fact for the spandex-clad Sin City actress. Back in the mid-2000s, when Alba was every man’s Hollywood “it girl” to watch on the big screen, everyone thought she would gain ultimate fame in Hollywood — she was like the girl next door. In the 2000s she was hot professionally; she was the starring actress in many romantic comedies and was also credited as an actress for major, big-budget comic book films. And because Alba was an actress in big-time movies like Fantastic Four, she was able to reach out to a female audience because many women adored the innocent bombshell. She was bagging all these roles, including the gritty role in Sin City, that it made no sense when we started to realize that her career was taking a significant drop. The actress bounced back on her feet into Hollywood so quickly after the birth of her first child that that should have demonstrated her dedication to her profession, but being camera-ready so swiftly is what started the Jessica Alba drought.
Instead of breaking records, the bombshell who was known for her romantic comedies quickly disappeared from the world filled with studded red-carpet events and award shows. In 2010, Alba’s film career vanished into thin air, and her disappearance from the big screen was mostly evident. Ever thought why? These are the questionable reasons as to why we no longer see the exotic babe.
15– SHE DIDN’T MARRY A STAR
Alba, unlike Lindsay Lohan or Kim Kardashian, never had an admiration for being in the limelight; she was rather low key and never took part in the Hollywood nightlife either. When that happens, an actress gets little publicity and attention and therefore, dropped out of the spotlight.
And to top it all off, unlike many A-listers who find their other halves in Hollywood, Alba married your average and everyday hunk.
Not exchanging vows with a fellow actor causes the press and paparazzi to pay less attention to a star for the simple reason that they are not with someone in Hollywood. When Alba married her handsome husband Cash Warren, she settled into normal life with him and sank out of her professional life. A secretive life equals no life in Hollywood.
14– BECAUSE NOBODY REMEMBERS HER
From Into the Blue to Mechanic: Resurrection, Alba had many film projects in between, but nobody remembers them, including the big-time Hollywood directors. Off the top of anyone’s head, it is hard to quickly come up with a role she was known for without reflecting and pondering. Most of her films were typical romantic comedies that are easily forgotten by audiences and directors alike, which did not lend to her career.
And so, by the late 2000s, the American beauty did not at that point have mega-hits credited to her name which led to her fall in fame.
Alba’s rise in popularity came through her role in the first Sin City movie due to the fact that she shared the camera with an ensemble of A-listers that lent to her rise, but that was not enough to keep the beautiful star on the top. Even though she rocked the spandex, people don’t really remember her.
13– SHE COULD NOT LAND LEADING ROLES
And because of the precedent reason, Alba had great trouble landing the leading role in movies. Hollywood is also to blame for this, though, because they are not very diverse in who they cast for their movies — we all know who Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lawrence are, right? She has always been a fan-favourite, especially with men, who appreciated her cinematic contributions, but Hollywood did not perceive her the same way. It is shocking that such a beautiful actress would not be shoved in front of the camera more often, since, of course, in the shallow world of Hollywood beauty does sell.
Her entire career, though, was devoted to unnoticeable roles because she never had much of a selection and was therefore unable to launch her career as a big shot in Hollywood.
You would be shocked to know that many directors did not cast her in leading roles because of her looks.
12– BECAUSE SHE WAS IN THE FANTASTIC FOUR SEQUEL
According to many A-listers, and Alba herself, the plummet of Alba’s career was completely due to her role in the sequel of Fantastic Four, the Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Alba blames the fall of her career and diminish in fame on her role in the sequel directed by Tim Story, which she detested, because she did not feel she could shine through as an actress.
The brunette beauty, who is relatively quiet and under the radar, expressed her sorrow after appearing in this film, saying that it made her want to “quit acting altogether.”
This film and all the abhorrence that surrounded it made Alba completely reconsider her career choice in life, leading to Hollywood’s dismissal of Alba. The very professional Alba commented this after the film’s release: “Am I not allowed to be a person in my work? And so I just said, ‘*f%@# it.’ I don’t care about this business anymore.”
11– SHE HAS BAD TIMING
Some actresses do not make the wisest choices throughout their careers, and Alba is a victim of just that. Because she has always remained low key, she missed out on many opportunities that could have bumped her back up. One time that she did something correctly, but at the wrong time, was jumping on the Taylor Swift bandwagon.
Making appearances in commercials and music videos often aids in keeping actors prevalent and trending in Hollywood, so Alba took her shot at it when she joined the Swift squad for the singer’s “Bad Blood” music video.
However, the actress who wanted to bounce back into films made her appearance as a lady assassin in the video at the wrong time; it was at the peak of the feud between Kanye and Swift, so of course, no one paid attention to the former movie star.
10– SHE NEVER WON AN OSCAR
Yes, Alba is gorgeous and a part of every man’s dream since she made her debut as an actress, and though her looks definitely hitched her with many acting gigs, it did not win her an Oscar. She remained a competent actress throughout her career, but she never was able to validate herself as a top earner because she never got acknowledged by the academy for her roles. Instead, Alba had to deal with her films being ripped apart by the critics, which evidently does not grant you a speech at the mic stand.
Romantic comedies like Good Luck Chuck and The Love Guru were enough to put her in the spotlight for a little, but they did not put her on the red carpet for an Oscar.
Sadly, she did not hit big in her prime, and when no Oscars are shelved, Hollywood does not bother.
9– SHE WAS IN HORROR MOVIES
The truth of the matter is, if you have a role in a thriller and horror flick and you’re a total babe, people will only laugh and grin —
We all know that cheeseball horror movies get buried way in the ground because of how terrible they are — Alba should have known better.
Films of this genre are usually box-office bombs that get a couple hundred thousand dollars only because of the stunning women that they cast as the “innocent girl;” they are not what actresses want on their resumes, but Alba took a bite at it. Unfortunately for Alba though, who did not learn the first time in 1999, taking a stab at these roles for the next couple years only made things worse for her; in 2008, her film The Eye was loathed and then so was her career.
8– SHE NO LONGER WANTED TO BE CAST AS A HOT CHICK
Alba was often cast in films as the hot chick, but as she got older, she started rejecting those roles, which gave her limited choices.
The actress we often saw in swimsuits and bandage-type clothing lost the spotlight once she started refusing the roles that demanded her to be the babe in their films.
The mother of three has always been careful about her image, by also refusing to partake in the Hollywood nightlife, even though the reason she was in the spotlight many years was because of her flawless face and jaw-dropping body. And by refusing to be in the limelight because of her dashing appearance, she lost a lot of popularity in Hollywood, as taking a chance on the actress would have been too risky since she claimed she was over the whole “total babe” image she was tagged with.
7– BECAUSE OF HER ETHNICITY
In 2018, actresses like Alba are still facing discrimination issues because of their ethnicity. Generally, most women cast in Oscar-winning films are white-bread, and Alba does not fall into that category because of her darker skin tone and more exotic look. Actresses who are cast into white-bread comedies are very typical, like Cameron Diaz, but Alba never fit the description because of her glowing olive skin tone and was always tossed to the side.
It is completely harsh to admit and come to terms with, but Alba knew that her identity was a mighty reason why her filmography never expanded to the lengths she expected.
After her role in the terrible horror flick The Eye, she made matters worse by expressing her opinion about the harsh double standard she was facing as a Latina actress in Hollywood — good job, Holly-white!
6– BECAUSE HER MARVEL FLICKS WERE AWKWARD
When it comes to comic books being adapted into films, viewers and die-hard fans always expect the greatest, and most of the films are — except Jessica Alba’s Fantastic Four evidently. The Marvel universe has employed many of the world’s biggest stars and most successful A-listers, however, Alba’s stardom did not rise with Marvel — the film was strangely a complete miss.
According to critics, to say Alba’s Sue Storm was an embarrassment is a complete understatement.
Alba thought the role would be a reliable source of credibility, the way other female stars like Scarlett Johansson struck the big-time with Marvel, but Alba got struck by a storm (pun intended) with bad luck, again. An humiliation for the Marvel Cinematic franchise, Alba paid the price for the un-marvellous film.
5– ZERO PERCENT RATING ON ONE OF HER FILMS
From the time she starred as a dancer in Honey, critics have not been so kind with Alba and her acting abilities. In fact, according to critics, her contributions to cinema should not even be recognized, especially her teeny-bopper rolls. Her role as a stripper in Sin City may have been the most recognized and notable one because of the fellow grand actors she shared the screen with, but critics have slammed her for all other roles. And as tough as critics could be, it is rare for them to loathe a film so harshly that they score it an inevitable 0%.
An Invisible Sign got her nothing but bad press; she was bashed for being “odd” and “inexpressive” in the movie — two things an actor cannot be.
Alba fought back by claiming that being cast as a mathematical wiz was not her strong point — it was too late; the damage was done.
4– SHE WANTED CONTROL
At a certain point, some actors are able to take control of their careers; they control what they want, what they’re allowed on set, and how they act, but Alba never got the permission to be that way, though. With many female roles available the past couple of years,
Alba was approached, but rejected many because she demanded to be at the helm of the project.
We get it, but when your career is not vast and you have not been credited a box office hit, accepting whichever role would be the wisest choice to get back the Hollywood fame. The actress has spent the last few years building her business empire, but realized she was not getting offered the same roles as other actresses and vocalized her disappointments by expressing her difficulty of finding roles that stir her passions.
3– DESPERATION LED TO HER DOWNFALL
Desperate times call for desperate measures, even for the rich and famous. A few years after her role in An Invisible Sign, Alba decided to get back in the game — wrong idea, again. Alba was way too naive to trust her gut when taking just about anything that came crawling her way; we are talking about the Robert Rodriguez-directed film Machete Kills. Usually when actors make a comeback, they come in with a bang, but Alba did things differently. This role that she accepted showed just how desperate she was to have her name seen in the end credits of a film. And when it comes to Hollywood, being desperate enough to sign on to a film that gave just about a minute of screen-time does not sit well, instead, the anchor sinks to the bottom. This machete killed Alba’s career when all she wanted was a fresh start.
2– BECAUSE OF HER OTHER ATTEMPT AT A COMEBACK
We must hand it to her; the gorgeous Alba does not give up — well at least that’s the way we see it. In 2015, she tried her shot again and went for a romantic comedy with the chick flick Some Kind of Beautiful. Though not as bad as the aforementioned, her role alongside Pierce Brosnan worked out against her and did not get her the attention she desperately needed.
The film failed to add a milestone to her filmography because it, again, was heavily loathed by critics who described her acting as “exasperatingly cliche.”
We know critics are not fans of romantic comedies because of how awfully typical and mainstream they are, but they were easy on her when they saw her performance. All eyes were on her out of curiosity, but she managed to fail again. Yikes.
1– SHE CHANGED HER FOCUS
Though it’s hard to believe that an actress would intentionally drop out of such a dreamy job, Alba claims she did. Yes, she has endlessly tried out acting again and again with the roles mentioned throughout the list, but the main reason she lost all the spunk and funk was because she decided to on her very own. She put that part of her life on hold by pursuing a career in business and focusing on the demanding job of being a mother. She never had a niche for being in the limelight, and therefore, bouncing out of Hollywood was a wise move for Alba at the time. The reason Hollywood dropped her, though, was because she ducked out to take care of her family when she was in the prime of her career. And when that happens, it is difficult to get back into the vibe and into the spotlight.