She took her first acting lesson at age 12, and was signed by an agent just nine months after that. In 1993, Jessica landed her first role on the family comedy, Camp Nowhere. This role's duration was only supposed to last for two weeks, but when the lead actress dropped out at the last minute, Jessica got the lead role. Her role prolonged her what was supposed to be a two week contract, to a 2 month one. The interesting thing is, Jessica received the role because of her hair, which happened to be the same colour and the same length as the main character's.

Later on in her career, Jessica was featured in a commercial by Nintendo and then a commercial by J.C. Penny soon followed. In 1994, she got a supporting role on Nickelodeon's Secret World of Alex Mack. he name in this series coincidentally happened to be Jessica as well.

Soon to follow, she got the role of Maya on Flipper - The Series. All of 1995, was spent filming the first season's episodes in Australia. Because of this series, she is now a certified scuba diver and swims often.

In 1999, Jessica filmed a movie called The Sleeping Dictionary. In this movie, she is a young woman from a tribe that is sent to teach a visitor her native tounge. This movie was filmed in Malaysia.

In 2000, she was chosen to play Max on Fox's Dark Angel. James Cameron (Producer), and Charles H. Eglee (Producer), say they knew she was the perfect one for the job as soon as they met her. They said she was outgoing, and had a great personality. Rumor has it that she was also chosen because of the fact that she looks like no identifiable ethnicity, which is supposed to be the same as Max.

Also in 2000, Jessica appeared in Maxim Magazine. You can click >here to see a sample of it. She also appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno in October. In November of 2000, she appeared in Seventeen Magazine, TV Guide, and had some pictures featured on Entertainment Tonight.

In 2001, Jessica appeared in Entertainment TEEN Edition. Then, soon after that, she was seen in People Magazine doing a photoshoot with Michael Weatherly. In February of 2001, she appeared in YM (Magazine), Glamour Magazine, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, TRL (Total Request Live) on MTV, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and finally The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on the Comedy Central. Also in 2001, Jessica appeared on The People's Choice Awards where she was up for best actress in a new series, and also her show, Dark Angel, was up for best new drama. After that, Jessica was also seen on The Golden Globe awards where she was up for best new actress in a drama series.