Jessica Biel

Jessica Claire Biel was born in Ely, Minnesota, and grew up in a family that moved frequently before settling in Boulder, Colorado. As a child, she played soccer and trained as a level six gymnast. She also took dance and voice lessons and developed an early interest in musical theater.

Biel attended Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, from 2000 to 2002. Her ancestry includes Hungarian Jewish, German, French, English, Scandinavian, and Danish roots.

Biel initially trained as a vocalist and began appearing in musical productions at age nine, including The Sound of Music and Beauty and the Beast. She also performed in productions of Annie, including an understudy role in Connecticut. At 11, she entered a modeling and talent competition in Los Angeles, won an acting scholarship, and began appearing in print advertisements and commercials.

Her first acting role was in the musical film It's a Digital World, in which she played Regrettal. At 14, she was cast as Mary Camden, the oldest daughter in the family drama series 7th Heaven. The role made her widely known as a television actress.

While appearing on 7th Heaven, Biel pursued more demanding film roles. She played Peter Fonda's granddaughter in the 1997 drama Ulee's Gold, earning a Young Artist Award, and later appeared with Jonathan Taylor Thomas in I'll Be Home for Christmas. Her subsequent roles included Summer Catch and Lara in The Rules of Attraction.

Biel received her first top-billing film role as Erin Hardesty in the 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Although critics responded negatively to the film, it became a commercial success and established Biel as a leading presence in genre cinema. She followed it with Blade: Trinity, appearing alongside Wesley Snipes, Ryan Reynolds, and Kris Kristofferson.

Her early 2000s film work also included the action thriller Stealth, the drama London, and the romantic historical drama The Illusionist. In The Illusionist, she co-starred with Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti as Duchess Sophie von Teschen. The performance drew positive critical attention and helped strengthen her reputation as a dramatic actress.

Biel moved between comedy, action, and drama in films such as I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, Next, Easy Virtue, Valentine's Day, The A-Team, Total Recall, and Hitchcock. In Easy Virtue, she played Larita Whittaker and performed two songs for the soundtrack. In Hitchcock, she portrayed actress Vera Miles opposite Anthony Hopkins as Alfred Hitchcock.

Biel increasingly pursued independent film projects after 2012, appearing in The Truth About Emanuel, Bleeding Heart, A Kind of Murder, The Book of Love, and Shock and Awe. In Bleeding Heart, she played May, a yoga instructor who meets her biological sister, portrayed by Zosia Mamet, for the first time. Biel also produced The Book of Love and served as a producer on the short film Hole in the Paper Sky.

In 2017, Biel starred in and executive produced the USA Network limited series The Sinner. She played Cora Tannetti, whose violent outburst prompts an investigation. Her performance earned Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy nominations for lead actress in a limited series or movie.

Biel later starred in and executive produced the true-crime miniseries Candy, played Lia Haddock in Limetown, and served as an executive producer on Cruel Summer. Her announced and listed projects include the science-fiction thriller Ursa Major, the film Matchbox: The Movie, and the television series The Better Sister. In 2025, her production company Iron Ocean was announced as an executive producer on a 7th Heaven reboot in development at CBS Studios.

Biel began dating singer and actor Justin Timberlake in January 2007. They became engaged in December 2011 and married on October 19, 2012, at the Borgo Egnazia resort in Fasano, Italy.

They have two sons, Silas Randall Timberlake and Phineas Timberlake.

Biel has participated in charitable efforts involving medical fundraising, animal welfare, girls' sex education, and the global water crisis. In 2006, she took part in a charity auction that raised medical funds for Molly Bloom, a teenager injured in a limousine accident. She also worked with WomanCare Global to develop health and sex-education content for girls.

In 2007, Biel co-founded the Make the Difference Network with her father and Kent McBride. In 2010, she climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with members of the United Nations Foundation to raise awareness of the global water crisis.

In 2021, Biel joined Jeremy Adams and co-founder Greg Willsey to launch Kinderfarms, a health and wellness brand for families. In 2019, she met with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and California lawmakers about a proposed bill concerning medical exemptions from vaccinations. Biel clarified that she supports vaccinations and objected to provisions she believed could affect children with medical conditions.