In the mid-'00s, Jessica Biel experienced a rapid rise to stardom after starring in a handful of blockbuster flicks, including Blade: Trinity, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and The Illusionist, just to name a few.
She was undoubtedly one of the busiest actresses in Hollywood and the movie roles just kept on pouring in — well, that was until she met her now-husband Justin Timberlake, it seems. The couple met around 2007 before tying the knot five years later in an intimate wedding ceremony with close friends and family members.
They’ve also welcomed two children, Silas, 5, and a three-month-old, whose name the duo has chosen not to disclose with the public. Biel has prioritized family over her career since settling down with Timberlake, but there seems to be a particular reason why she stopped acting as much.
What Happened To Jessica Biel’s Career?
Most recently, the 38-year-old starred in the TV series Pete the Cat after having signed on for a 10-episode run on Facebook Watch’s crime-mystery Limetown in 2018.
Both projects fell under the radar as they were nowhere near as successful as her earlier work — she also starred in a bunch of low-budget films, including A Kind of Murder, The Book of Love, Bleeding heart, Accidental Love, and Shock and Awe, but none of them made any sort of impact at the box office.
Interestingly enough, however, according to the New York Daily News, the actress’ agent suggested she focused her attention on smaller roles so that she could show off her talent as opposed to being looked upon as a woman who’s only hired for her good looks.
As harsh as it may sound, most of Biel’s biggest roles had lackluster storylines and were more so centered around her sex appeal than her acting abilities, which evidently meant that she would struggle to find roles in Hollywood once she hit a certain age that casting directors would deem to be old.
The mother-of-two has certainly found it harder to find her place in the filmmaking industry now that she’s in her mid-30s, having once thought that after winning the title of Esquire’s Sexiest Woman Alive in 2005, it would have opened doors for her career to reach new heights, but that simply wasn’t the case.
"When this whole thing went down ... I thought, 'Oh, this is going to be great!” She told Radio Free Entertainment.
“I’m going to get so many jobs from this!' ... [laughs] That wasn't really the case ... I felt like I was kind of on this pedestal a little bit, and it definitely didn't just open all the doors for me, which I thought it would.”
Meanwhile, a detailed essay by the publication Salon notes that Biel has “been the female lead in just about every recent movie that barely has a female lead at all.”
“Her strange husk of a career — working all the time, but called upon to stretch herself never — is the consequence of a Hollywood machine that needs actresses to exist to look pretty and sell tickets, but has no earthly idea of what to do with them.”
But Biel isn’t oblivious to what’s been going on in Hollywood as far as her career concerned. She’s aware that if it doesn’t concern the appeal she can bring to a male demographic, the Minnesota native stands little to no chance in getting a role that’s solely based on her acting abilities, which, of course, has left her frustrated.
In a previous interview with Marie Claire, Timberlake’s wife says she has often found herself wanting to prove herself to casting directors, but even with her resume and her string of successful films, landing a role in a commercial flick these days is harder than ever for her.
"For a very long time, I wasn't thought of as anyone with any credibility in the film world,” she told the publication.
"Everybody is tramping through the swamp every day in this business. 'I'm worth it, I'm credible...believe me, give me a shot!' That's the way I feel on a consistent basis." Only time will tell if she will indeed get a shot to show audiences and decision-makers behind the scenes that she can be the kind of star they're looking for.
This would explain why Biel is so rarely seen on the big screen these days. And while she’s married to one of the biggest pop stars in the world, it would understandably be very hard for her to accept the fact that seeing the success she had in her early 20s is unlikely something she can replicate again.
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