Jensen Ackles revealed that he had a “horrible” time working with Jessica Alba on the 2000 series “Dark Angel.”
The “Supernatural” actor was brought in as a series regular on the show for its second season, which ended up being its last. Alba played a genetically enhanced super-soldier and assassin who escapes her handler and tries to uncover the secrets of her past in a near-future, somewhat apocalyptic version of America.
Speaking to Michael Rosenbaum on his “Inside You” podcast earlier this week, Ackles pulled no punches in describing the negative experience he had working with Alba. However, he stopped short of saying she was not a good person or unprofessional.
“Horrible,” Ackles said when asked what it was like to work with her on the show. “I’m not kidding. I’ve told this to her face.”
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Jensen Ackles worked with Jessica Alba on the 2000 series “Dark Angel.” (Valerie Macon/Getty Images)
He added: “I love Jess, which I know kind of contradicts what I’ve just said… She was under an immense amount of pressure on that show. She was young, she was in a relationship with [costar Michael Weatherly], and that was rocky and causing some undue stress, I believe, on set.”
More than two decades later, Ackles says he understands why Alba wasn’t necessarily warm to him when they first started working together.
“I was the new, fresh face on the set who wasn’t really there in season one,” he explained. “I came in for one episode, but then they wrote me in as a series regular for season two. I was the new kid on the block, and I got picked on by the lead.”
The actor went on to clarify that he defended himself, likening their relationship to a bickering brother and sister.
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Jessica Alba was reportedly difficult to work with on “Dark Angel.” (Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images)
“She had it out for me,” he said.
“It wasn’t that she didn’t like me. She just was like, ‘Oh here’s the pretty boy that network brought in for some more window dressing, because that’s what we need.'”
Eventually, their constant bickering, which he described as fighting “fire with fire” ultimately led to a mutual respect between them. As a result, they soon developed a friendship. When her boyfriend was away, Alba didn’t like being at the house alone, so she called Ackles to keep her company, which he made sure to note was “platonic.”
“She would have kicked me in the nuts if I’d tried anything,” he joked. “She would, she’s a very tough little vixen.”
When his grandfather died while he was working on the show, he said she came into his trailer and simply held him for an hour to make him feel better.
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Jessica Alba in the series “Dark Angel.” (AP)
Ackles’ comments about the pressure his co-star was under echo those she previously made to Marie Claire in 2012 when she revealed she felt “objectified” on the show at just 19 years old.
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“I had a show [Fox’s Dark Angel] that premiered when I was 19,” Alba explains. “And right away, everyone formed a strong opinion about me because of the way I was marketed. I was supposed to be sexy, this tough action girl. That’s what people expected.”
