Jessica Biel to Portray Hugh Hefner's Wife in Playboy Mansion Film
The actress will play a fictional character in "Playmates," a new movie exploring the iconic mansion.
Jessica Biel has been cast as the wife of the late Playboy founder Hugh Hefner in "Playmates," an upcoming film centered on the Playboy Mansion. Biel, 44, will portray a fictional character in the movie, which is written and directed by Lorraine Nicholson, daughter of actor Jack Nicholson.
Biel expressed her enthusiasm for the project on Instagram, stating she was "absolutely thrilled to join this project with this amazing cast!" The actress's character is not based on any of Hefner's three actual wives: Millie Williams (married 1949-1959), Kimberley Conrad (married 1989-2010), or Crystal Harris (married 2012-2017).
The film's cast also includes Bill Pullman as Hefner and Lily-Rose Depp as a character named Anna. "Playmates" is described as a coming-of-age story focusing on a young girl named Elle, who considers the Playboy Mansion a second home and befriends Anna, one of seven models vying for the Playmate of the Month title.
Searchlight Pictures acquired the film last month. Hefner, who launched Playboy magazine in 1953, died in 2017 at the age of 91. He famously stated in a 1992 interview that he had spent much of his life searching for love, and later acknowledged in 2007 that he never found his soulmate.
The news of Biel's casting comes shortly after she and her husband, Justin Timberlake, celebrated their 14th wedding anniversary. The couple, who have two sons, Silas and Phineas, met in 2007 and married in 2012. Timberlake recently faced legal issues after a DWI arrest in Sag Harbor, New York, in June 2024. He pleaded guilty to impaired driving in September 2024 and received a fine, community service, and a license suspension.