Jessica Alba is a woman of many talents and she found success as both an actress and an entrepreneur. She became a household name after starring in Sin City and Fantastic Four before founding The Honest Company, but can she also bust some epic dance moves?
Yes, Jessica Alba can dance! She first demonstrated her dancing abilities with the breakout role in 2003 film Honey, but she didn’t actually have any formal training before this project.
It’s been over 15 years since this movie came out, but Alba still enjoys dancing – and the way she does it will melt your heart.
Childhood Dance Lessons?
Many actresses with impressive dancing skills used to take dancing or ballet lessons in their youth, but that’s not the case with Jessica Alba. Her childhood was marked with severe health issues, and she spent a lot of time in the hospital as a kid.
In addition to dealing with asthma and allergies, she suffered from collapsed lungs, and attending dancing classes in this condition was nearly impossible. Her parents couldn’t afford dance lessons, so little Jessica bagged her father to put up a plastic bar on her door so she could pretend to be a ballerina and practice her own routine.
She eventually managed to convince her parents to let her give acting a shot, and started taking acting classes at the age of eleven. She attended the Atlantic Theater Company after getting her high school diploma, and already scored several small parts by that time. It took a couple of years until she finally secured the role in a project that put her dancing abilities on full display.
Big Breakout with “Honey”
Fresh off the success of sci-fi series Dark Angel, Jessica Alba managed to land the titular role in the dance movie Honey. This part was originally written with Aaliyah in mind, and director Bille Woodruff had to recast the role after the singer’s tragic death in 2001.
This film centered on talented hip-hop dancer Honey Daniels, who has to face some tough choices as she tries to make it as a music video choreographer, only to learn that the success comes at a high price. Choreographer Laurieann Gibson served as inspiration for the movie, and played the role of Honey’s rival Katrina.
Jessica Alba was a huge fan of dance movies Saturday Night Fever, Flashdance, and Dirty Dancing in her youth, and Honey gave her a chance to fulfill a dream of working on a similar project. She took preparations seriously, and attended ballet, jazz, and hip-hop classes for six hours a day over the course of three months.
Her work paid off since Honey managed to triple its budget at the box office, and it gave Alba her breakout role. Unfortunately, the critics weren’t very kind to it, and the majority found it too predictable and formulaic.
Tik Tok Challenges
Jessica Alba is still dancing, but not in the way most people would expect. Sin City star is keeping up with the kids by taking part in popular TikTok challenges. After “Savage” challenge, inspired by Megan Thee Stallion’s song of the same name, took the internet by storm Alba couldn’t resist giving it a shot, and it took her only 12 minutes to master the moves.
It’s highly likely that her daughters introduced her to this app, since she can often be seen recreating TikTok dances by their side. Honor and Haven obviously share her love for dancing and make regular appearances in her videos.
It’s been a while since we’ve seen Alba perform an elaborate choreography in one of her movies, but it’s adorable to see that her daughters are helping her keep the love for dancing alive.
Just Dance
Jessica Alba didn’t have any formal dance training in her youth, but she showed us her epic moves in the hip-hop movie Honey, and still enjoys dancing by her daughters’ side while recreating popular TikTok challenges.