FANTASTIC FORM

She’s played her share of otherworldly and comic book characters: a dark angel, an invisible woman and a stripper with a gritty past. For Complex, sultry star Jessica Alba slips out of her superhero persona and into something more comfortable. INTERVIEW BY CHRIS CONNOLLY PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROBERT MAXWELL

At only 24, Jessica Alba, the olive–skinned, luscious–lipped offspring of a Mexican–Indian and Spanish father and a French–Danish mother is getting serious. She’s serious about her acting, her new man and her three major films this year: Frank Miller’s Sin City, Fantastic Four and the shark infested Into The Blue. We persuaded Hollywood’s favorite heroine to step off the comic pages and into ours.

SIN CITY, DARK ANGEL, FANTASTIC FOUR. THOSE ARE ALL SUPERHERO AND COMIC BOOKS. ARE YOU. . . A NERD?

Jessica Alba: Yeah, I’m pretty nerdy, I guess.

TELL US ABOUT THE LAST TIME YOU FELT REALLY NERDY AND UNNATURAL.

Jessica Alba: Well, it’s not unnatural for me to feel nerdy. I do goofy things all the time. I trip, I knock things over. The other day, I bashed myself in the head with a door. I was in my boyfriend’s car and I closed the door with my head still sticking out.

YOU SLAMMED YOUR OWN HEAD IN A CAR DOOR?

Jessica Alba: Yeah. I wasn’t used to his car, so I closed the door on my head. I’m not a coordinated person; I just play coordinated people.

SO, WHO’S THIS BOYFRIEND?

Jessica Alba: His name is Cash.

CASH?

Jessica Alba: Yes. See? No one cares who I’m dating when they’re not famous.

WE CARE.

Jessica Alba: I did this interview one time with someone like The Hollywood Foreign Press or something and they were all excited. They said, “Who are you dating? You have to tell us!” And I said, “He’s not famous.” And they went, “Oh. Well, okay. But we still want to know.”

WELL, TRUTHFULLY, WE DO KNOW. CASH WARREN IS A PRODUCER YOU MET WHILE FILMING FANTASTIC FOUR. HE GRADUATED FROM YALE, AND HIS FATHER WAS AN ACTOR AND A BASKETBALL PLAYER. ALSO, YOU SMASHED YOUR HEAD IN HIS CAR DOOR.

Jessica Alba: Wow. You know a lot.

IT’S PART OF THE JOB. ARE YOU SERIOUS ABOUT CASH?

Jessica Alba: Yes.