Jessica Biel has revealed that she landed a key role on the TV series 7th Heaven through an audition like no other.
Biel, who is married to Justin Timberlake, played the eldest daughter, Mary Camden of seven children in a pastor's family. She was a regular addition in the first six seasons of the drama series which began in 1996.
She was then a recurring character in seasons seven and made special appearances in seasons eight and 10 but didn’t return for the 11th and final season which concluded in 2007.
Speaking to the Catching Up With the Camdens podcast, which is hosted by three of Biel’s on-screen siblings Beverley Mitchell, David Gallagher, and Mackenzie Rosman, the star recalled that her audition involved her character “spinning a basketball on her finger” as she was an aspiring player in the sport.
However, Biel, who was only 13 years old at the time, said that she only pretended to use a basketball during her audition. "So I did that in the audition without a basketball,” she said. “What a choice. Like, who encouraged me to do that?”
The 43-year-old added: "I kinda still feel embarrassed about that, but, I don't know. Maybe it was effective."
She added: “I remember thinking, 'cool character,' because she's a basketball player, and I was an athlete. I was like 'Oh, I connect to this.'"
Mitchell also noted that she and her TV sister had shared a sweet moment early on: "I also remember at that network thing, you and I exchanged photos and, like, you signed one being like, 'Hope we get to do this together!'"
7th Heaven became a big hit with much of the cast including Barry Watson, Catherine Hicks, and Stephen Collins, working together for more than a decade.
On an episode of the Awards Chatter podcast in 2018, Biel said: "You can only do so much with a particular character specifically on a show like that. We really had to sort of stay in the boundaries of a somewhat religious family and teaching lessons, and when you know you're 16, 14, 15 you get to a point when you're like 'Oh man, I just want to do something different.'
"I just want to cut my hair, and I just want to dye it a different colour and I can't do all these things because I have this contract."
She added: "I did cut my hair and I got in a lot of trouble for that."
"I had to apologise to everybody, which is sort of the theme of my experience on 7th Heaven. I was always apologizing."
