40 Fun Facts About Famous Jessicas

The name Jessica is first recorded in which Shakespeare play, where she is the daughter of the moneylender Shylock?

The Merchant of Venice gives the name to a daughter who elopes with the penniless Lorenzo and a chest of her father's money. Shakespeare may have adapted it from Iscah, a name found in Genesis.

Rescuers in Midland, Texas, spent 58 hours in October 1987 freeing toddler "Baby Jessica" McClure from what?

A backyard well only eight inches wide held the 18-month-old about 22 feet down, so crews drilled a parallel shaft through rock to reach her. All three big US television networks carried the rescue live.

In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which Body Heat star gave Jessica Rabbit her speaking voice without screen credit?

Kathleen Turner came to the part through director Robert Zemeckis, who had worked with her on Romancing the Stone. She took it while pregnant, since all she had to do was turn up and speak; Amy Irving sang for the character.

Jessica Simpson's marriage to which pop singer was followed by MTV cameras for the reality series Newlyweds?

Nick Lachey, lead singer of 98 Degrees, married her in Austin in October 2002, and the series began the next year. It made both of them household names before the marriage ended in 2006.

Jessica Chastain attended Juilliard on a scholarship funded by which comedian, himself a former student there?

Robin Williams funded the scholarship she was granted on being accepted. He had left the school in his junior year, after a teacher suggested it had nothing more to teach him.

Which actress played mystery novelist Jessica Fletcher of Cabot Cove, Maine, for twelve seasons of Murder, She Wrote?

Angela Lansbury got the role only after Jean Stapleton, for whom the producers had developed it, turned it down. The character's maiden name, MacGill, was borrowed from Lansbury's own mother.

Jessica Alba broke through as a genetically enhanced runaway in Dark Angel, a series co-created by which film director?

James Cameron made his television debut with the series, whose heavily promoted pilot drew 17.4 million viewers. Alba's Max followed his earlier tough heroines Sarah Connor and Ellen Ripley.

Sarah Jessica Parker played Sarah Sanderson, one of three witches resurrected in Salem, in which 1993 Disney film?

Hocus Pocus cast her beside Bette Midler and Kathy Najimy as the Sanderson sisters. Yearly October airings on cable later turned the film into a cult classic.

Jessica Tandy won the Best Actress Oscar at the age of 80 for playing a Southern widow in which 1989 film?

Driving Miss Daisy made her the oldest performer to have won the Best Actress Oscar. Morgan Freeman played Hoke, the chauffeur hired by her character's son after she crashes her Chrysler.

Jessica Watson, who spent 210 days sailing solo around the world aged 16, came home in 2010 to which country?

Australia greeted her in Sydney Harbour and later made her its Young Australian of the Year. She had helped to prepare her own yacht, which she called Ella's Pink Lady.

Sarah Jessica Parker played newspaper columnist Carrie Bradshaw in which HBO series based on Candace Bushnell's column?

Sex and the City won seven Primetime Emmy Awards. Its final episode at last revealed the first name of Carrie's on-off love, Mr. Big: John.

Jessica Biel, later the wife of Justin Timberlake, found fame as minister's daughter Mary Camden in which family drama?

7th Heaven cast her at 14 as the eldest Camden daughter, after she had auditioned for several television pilots. She married Timberlake at a resort in southern Italy in 2012.

Jessica Lange won her first Oscar playing a soap opera actress in which 1982 comedy starring Dustin Hoffman?

Tootsie has Hoffman's out-of-work actor disguise himself as an actress, Dorothy Michaels, to win a part in a daytime soap. Lange plays the co-star he falls for while keeping up the act.

In Marvel's Netflix series Jessica Jones, which former Doctor Who star plays the mind-controlling villain Kilgrave?

David Tennant, the tenth Doctor from 2005 to 2010, was cast as Kilgrave in January 2015. The character had once made Jessica kill someone, which ended her brief superhero career.

Zooey Deschanel played teacher Jessica Day, who moves into a Los Angeles loft with three men, in which Fox sitcom?

New Girl begins when Jess answers a Craigslist ad for a roommate after catching her boyfriend cheating. Fox built its first marketing push for the series around Deschanel.

Sheffield-born Jessica Ennis-Hill won Olympic gold at London 2012 and three world titles in which athletics event?

Heptathlon made her the 2012 Olympic champion in front of a home crowd, alongside world titles in 2009, 2011 and 2015. She also specialised in the 100 metres hurdles and is now Dame Jessica.

US Army private Jessica Lynch made headlines in 2003 when special forces retrieved her from a hospital in which country?

Iraq was where her supply convoy was ambushed at Nasiriyah in March 2003. Her recovery nine days later was the first successful rescue of an American prisoner of war since World War II.

Jessica Walter played scheming, hard-drinking matriarch Lucille Bluth in which sitcom about a formerly wealthy family?

Arrested Development brought her renewed attention three decades after her film breakthrough in Play Misty for Me. She went on to voice another sharp-tongued mother, the spymaster Malory Archer.

Jessica Alba, inspired by the birth of her first child, co-founded which maker of diapers and household goods?

The Honest Company grew out of her search for infant products free of petrochemicals and synthetic fragrances. It launched in 2012 with 17 products and was later valued at more than $1 billion.

Jessica Capshaw, stepdaughter of Steven Spielberg, played surgeon Arizona Robbins in which long-running medical drama?

Grey's Anatomy signed her for only three episodes of its fifth season, but creator Shonda Rhimes extended the contract and she became a series regular the following year.

Which Swedish actress plays Lady Jessica, the Bene Gesserit mother of Paul Atreides, in Denis Villeneuve's Dune films?

Rebecca Ferguson took on a part played by Francesca Annis in the 1984 film version. She is also Ilsa Faust, the MI6 agent of three Mission: Impossible films.

Jessica Wakefield and her identical twin Elizabeth are the Californian heroines of which Francine Pascal book series?

Sweet Valley High was written by a team of ghostwriters that Pascal presided over. The twins live in a fictional suburb near Los Angeles.

Gina Torres played Jessica Pearson, managing partner of a New York law firm and boss of Harvey Specter, in which drama?

Suits made the character popular enough to lead a spin-off of her own, Pearson, which follows her into the dirty politics of Chicago. Meghan Markle played paralegal Rachel Zane in the original.

Constance Wu played strict mother Jessica Huang, whose family moves to 1990s Orlando, in which ABC sitcom?

Fresh Off the Boat was loosely inspired by chef Eddie Huang's 2013 memoir of the same name. The family leaves Washington's Chinatown so that the father can open a cowboy-themed steakhouse.

Which future Pitch Perfect star played Jessica Stanley, Bella Swan's first friend in Forks, in the Twilight films?

Anna Kendrick played the chatterbox in four Twilight films. In between she made Up in the Air, which brought her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Jessica Drew, who debuted in Marvel Spotlight in 1977 as a brainwashed Hydra spy, is the alter ego of which heroine?

Spider-Woman was rushed into print, Stan Lee admitted, so that no rival publisher could bring out a heroine of that name first. Her own series then ran for 50 issues.

In The Simpsons episode Bart's Girlfriend, which Oscar-winning actress voiced Reverend Lovejoy's daughter Jessica?

Meryl Streep's turn was later picked by Entertainment Weekly as one of the best guest appearances on the series. Matt Groening found Jessica hard to draw attractively in his own style.

Jessica, a 1973 instrumental by Dickey Betts later used as the BBC's Top Gear theme, was recorded by which group?

The Allman Brothers Band released it on Brothers and Sisters. Betts titled it after his infant daughter and wrote it to be playable with two fingers, in tribute to jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt.

Jessica Chastain won the Best Actress Oscar for which 2021 biopic, whose subject's life rights she bought in 2012?

The Eyes of Tammy Faye cast her as a singing television evangelist opposite Andrew Garfield. Chastain also produced the film, through her own firm Freckle Films.

Jessica Tandy won a Tony Award in 1948 for creating the role of Blanche DuBois in which Broadway play?

A Streetcar Named Desire paired her with Marlon Brando, then a virtual unknown. When the film was made she lost the part to Vivien Leigh and went back to concentrating on the stage.

Jessica Cornish, a London singer who co-wrote Party in the U.S.A. for Miley Cyrus, performs under which stage name?

Jessie J wrote for Chris Brown and Miley Cyrus before her own career took off. Her single Price Tag then topped the charts in nineteen countries.

NASA astronaut Jessica Meir and Christina Koch made history in October 2019 by completing the first all-female what?

The spacewalk was Meir's first, and the pair spent it replacing a faulty battery charging unit outside the space station. She trained as a marine biologist and physiologist.

Jessica Long, born in Russia and adopted by American parents, won three Paralympic golds aged twelve in which sport?

Swimming made her the youngest member of the US team at Athens 2004, years after her lower legs were amputated at 18 months old. A Super Bowl commercial in 2021 told the story of her adoption.

Tennis player Jessica Pegula is the daughter of Terry and Kim Pegula, who became the owners of which NFL team?

Buffalo Bills ownership came after her parents had bought Buffalo's NHL team, the Sabres, in 2011. Her father had made his fortune in oil and gas.

Jessica Mitford, one of the six Mitford sisters, attacked the practices of which American trade in a 1963 bestseller?

Undertakers were accused in The American Way of Death of taking advantage of grieving families. The book led to Congressional hearings on the funeral industry.

Jessica Hynes co-created which sitcom with Simon Pegg, about two strangers who pose as a couple to rent a London flat?

Spaced was directed by Edgar Wright, and the three worked together again when Hynes took a small part as Yvonne in Shaun of the Dead. She was then credited as Jessica Stevenson.

Jessica Mendoza, the first female commentator in MLB postseason TV history, won Olympic gold in 2004 in which sport?

Softball brought the outfielder gold in 2004 and silver in Beijing four years later. She went on to spend four seasons as a color commentator on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball.

Jessica Harper played Suzy Bannion, an American ballet student at a sinister German academy, in which 1977 horror film?

Suspiria reveals the academy to be a front for a coven. Harper came back in a supporting role for Luca Guadagnino's remake in 2018, more than four decades on.

Jessica Cox, born without arms, became in 2008 the world's first armless person licensed to do what with her feet?

To fly a plane she uses an Ercoupe, a light aircraft built without rudder pedals. She is also the first armless black belt in the American Taekwondo Association.

Jessica Gunning won an Emmy as Martha, who stalks an aspiring comedian, in which Netflix miniseries by Richard Gadd?

Baby Reindeer won six Primetime Emmys in all, including writing and lead actor awards for Gadd, who starred as the comedian Donny.