She became more famous in Hollywood in 1999 after acting in the Drew Barrymore romantic comedy "Never Been Kissed", and as the main female character in the 1999 comedy-horror movie "Idle Hands". She was chosen from a group of 1,200 actresses for the role of the genetically-engineered soldier, on the FOX sci-fi television series "Dark Angel". The series ran for two seasons from 2000 until 2002. Alba was nominated for a Golden Globe for her work on that series. When she trained to be in "Dark Angel", Alba had to exercise very much and she starved herself. She said "A lot of girls have eating disorders and I did too. I got obsessed with it." She also had obsessive compulsive disorder and panic attacks. She said she has been cooking for herself since the age of twelve so she would not become as fat as her family members.