Although he had his consecrating role in Supernatural, Jensen Ackles he began his career several years earlier. His first steps were taken in the series Sweet Valley High Y Mr. Rhodes and caught the attention of the American public playing Eric Brandy in Days of Our Lives; there it raised so many sighs that it became a sensation among teenage girls. Just after passing through that soap opera, he was summoned to be part of the second season of Dark Angel, the cyberpunk sci-fi show created by James Cameron that launched Jessica Alba to stardom.
It was 2001 and both Ackles and Alba were barely in their twenties. And although there are photographs of the following years in which they are seen to be very friendly, the actor has just said that sharing the set with the actress was not exactly a very good experience.
interviewed on the podcast Inside of You With Michael Rosenbaum, the actor aroused a stir when, when asked “Was it great to work with Jessica?”, he left without a filter. “No. She was horribleAckles replied bluntly. And, to avoid suspicion and recrimination, he quickly clarified that it is something he has said to the actress’s face at the time.
Alba was the exclusive protagonist of the series, which had four successful seasons, from 2000 to 2003. Ackles joined the program as a regular character in the second and, as he explained, the reception of the star of the series was not the best. “I love Jess, and I know that contradicts what I just said,” the actor said. And he remembered: “She was under immense pressure on that show. I was young, I was in a relationship with [el coprotagonista Michael Weatherly]. That was difficult and I think it caused undue stress on set.”.
Ackles indicated that he “was the new guy on the set” and that he was “attacked” by none other than the leading lady. “She made my life impossible. It wasn’t that he didn’t like me, he just said, ‘Oh, here’s the cute boy they brought in to help decorate, because that’s what we all need.’”, he continued.
Surprised, the actor decided that it was best to confront her. “So I used to say in front of everyone, ‘Oh, it looks like we’re going to have Alba the bitch today… Everybody hold on to your balls,’” he recalled, stating that the team “loved” the jokes. As for how Alba felt about his reaction, Ackles thinks she thought, “Well, he’s going to be a jerk to me and I’m going to be a jerk to him, and that’s how we’re going to relate.”
Ackles said their approach eventually “built some mutual respect” and they got to have a good time together. “We related as if we were brothers and we had our moments,” he recalled. “When her boyfriend traveled, she was afraid of being alone in the house they shared and asked me to come and keep him company. Our relationship was always platonic, like brothers”, he insisted. The driver, then, was somewhat confused by the actress’s proposal and found it somewhat insinuating. “She would have given me a big kick down there if she had tried anything. She was a very tough little woman, a real slut,” Ackles then explained.
He even remembered that Alba was with him in a very difficult moment. “My grandfather died while we were recording and she literally walked into my trailer and held me for half an hour,” he shared. “So it was that kind of relationship. And again, if she walked in right now, we’d be all hugs. But he didn’t make it easy for me on set.”
The actor assured that despite the bad relationship, he was never afraid of being fired for it. “I felt the mistreatment, but I didn’t take into account who it came from. One day, a friend gave me some advice: he told me that maybe she was intimidated by me or that she liked me. Maybe it wasn’t like that, but I started to tell myself so to have confidence”.
Then, the actor explained that, unlike what happened in Dark Angel, his incorporation in the sixth season of Dawson’s Creek It wasn’t traumatic at all. “Everyone was calm and each one had already found their own place. I had to work more with Michelle Williams. At least at the time, she wasn’t openly friendly, she was very introverted and you had to earn her respect. I didn’t take it as a challenge, but I understood that I had to be patient.”
“With Joshua Jackson I got along very well, but Kerr Smith was great. With James Van Der Veek I didn’t get a lot of scenes, but he was very nice, and Katie Holmes was very sweet. Busy Phillips was very funny, “he said about that experience in one of the most popular teen series of the 90s.