Into the Blue: John P. Johnson

Jessica Alba

Age 24

Mustworthiness After a smoldering turn as a stripper in Sin City, the erstwhile Dark Angel has a bona fide big-screen hit to her name, which hasn't gone unnoticed by execs at Fox. They're basing much of the marketing for that other comic-book adaptation, Fantastic Four — which opens 10 days after that extinction-making event War of the Worlds — on her purty, purty face.

Sense of a Woman Alba asks that you never call her FF character, Susan Storm, ''Invisible Girl.'' ''So often, action heroines are smart-mouthed or promiscuous or ass-kickers. She's an adult. She believes in family. And she's smart. There aren't a lot of roles that allow me to do that.''

But Seriously, How Do You Really Feel? ''I f---ing hated people thinking of me as exotic, as this exotic — what would they call me? — this exotic, strong-minded, kick-butt action whatever-the-f---. And I couldn't stand that people would only send me scripts for the girl who does the seducing or the girl who kicks someone's ass. I don't relate to these things. It's even more frustrating when your representatives put you in that box and tell you 'This is how you're perceived.'''

War of the Words ''I ran into Tom [Cruise], and he said he'd definitely go see Fantastic Four. I told him [Worlds] has 10 days, and then it's all us.''

Next Into the Blue, in which she plays a bikini-clad treasure hunter, hits theaters Sept. 30.