Just listening to Jessica Alba speak, you get the impression the 19-year-old Mexican/American actress, cast in the lead role in John Cameron's futuristic television series Dark Angel, who grew up in Southern California, is not having a problem with an ego. She does, however, have a problem with focusing on an answer and giving a clear answer about her background and family. She starts every answer with a squeaky laugh and an unassuming, you really want to talk to me? tone to her voice which is great. But a Julia Roberts with the media she is not.

"I'm a Southern California girl. I have grown up here pretty much my whole life," Alba said during a recent interview to promote Dark Angel, which premiers with a two-hour episode October 3 on FOX at 9 p.m.

During the interview she was asked to talk about her background and how she got into acting. "I was born in the same city as my father," she said. "Tlwt's how old school I am. I lived in a sort of a Leave it to Beaver neighborhood, the suburbs. It's greaLllove it there.

"I've always wanted to act. It's always been something I wanted to do. So when I was 12, my mom helped me. I begged her! And she was like 'No, you could never do it. You can never make it. The chances are da, da, da.' But I was like 'mom, please!' So she took me to get an agent and I got my first job about two months after I got my agent. And then everything just fell into place."

What is really weird about Alba is her FOX bio states she is "from a family that includes artists, performers and industry professionals." When asked what her family members do or have done in the industry, Alba replied, "Well, see, they're just all dramatic and loud. And I mean, waking up in the morning is an issue because someone is screaming and the other person has someone on the phone, and then my brother's shoes are stuck underneath somewhere, where the dog slobbered. And then we need a car, 'Where's the keys?' 'Who has the keys?' This is the first five minutes of me waking up. 'Jessica get the keys!' 'I don't know where the keys ale!' 'Well, you drove last!' 'No I didn't! Dad drove last!' 'Well, where did he put the keys?' So, just coming from that kind of family, they're all just really dramatic and ... " Huh?

Alba went on to ramble about how her brother, who she loves, whom is a tennis player she says will be in the pros some day, and who is 6-foot-2 and "gorgeous, and he's really smart, which also sucks." Her dad, who is Mexican, "owns a mortgage and real estate company, and my mom has done every job under the sun. And she started me out. She drove me to auditions and endured the life of a stage mom without actually being a nightmare. She was cool." Perhaps it was Alba's odd personality that drew her to Cameron (Aliens, Titanic, The Terminator) and co-creator/executive producer Charles Eglee (Murder One, Moonlighting). Alba plays Max, a genetically-enhanced human prototype who, after escaping her military handlers led by the fierce Lydecker (John Savage) is hunted by them through the underground street life of 21 st Century Pacific Northwest. Society in the not-to-distant future (2020) and is crippled by terrorists who destroyed the satellites that control the computers that basically run the planet. Max is aided in her quest both to avoid capture and to reunite with her surviving "siblings"by Logan Call' (Michael Weatherly). Call', an idealistic cyber-journalist, battles corruption and the oppressive establishment in this futuristic landscape.

Although uItracool, detached Max initially resists Logan's attem~ts to enlist her in his crusade, and ultimately brings her unique abilities to bear as she joins him in taking on the ruthless powpr-brokers of the new millennium.

Eglec says Alba, even though she is relatively unknown, was the perfect actor to play Max. "Jessica's pxtraordinary," Eglee said. "We looked over 1,000 people in New York, L.A., Toronto and Vancouver. We went out to college campuses. First and foremost, we wanted someone who has the acting chops, and Jessica has an enormous amount of craft."

Alba's recent feature film credits include 20th Century Fox's Never Been Kissed with Drew Barrymore and David Arquette, and Idle Hands with Seth Green. She is currently shooting the feature film The Sleeping Dictionary in Malaysia with Brenda Blethyn and Bob Hoskins.

Alba said there were many elements of Max that attracted her to the part. "She doesn't have a social security card or even a name, a given name," said Alba who enjoys activities she learned for several of her acting roles such as scuba diving, horseback riding, bicycling and motorcycling. "She's super human in a reality base. Things don't corne out of her hands or anything likp that. She is just more intuitivp and more in tune with things. She's fast and she's really specific with her moves. She can sort of pick lip 011 what people are going to do before they do it.

"I love how she says one thing, but

underneath she really means something completely different. And I can relate to that myself. It hurts too much, sometimes, to be open and honest, and so even though you're saying, 'I hate you.' You really mean, 'I love you.' And she does that, and you never really know where she's coming from, and then you know exactly where she's coming from. And then once you get that idea, it's pulled from you again, and just that whole mental struggle. I don't know. I kind of like that."

Not to quell any doubts about her esoteric sides, Alba revealed that, although she is half-Mexican, she can't speak a word of Spanish.

"I am• probably a shame to the Mexican society because I don't know Spanish," Alba said. "I should, but 1 don't. I'm c1arker than my brother and he knows more Spanish than me. But 1 can cook. I can do the Mexican food thing. That should hopefully save me."