| Alicia Silverstone is the daughter of a real estate agent and an airline stewardess. She began working as a child model at the age of six, after her father sent several pictures of her in a bathing suit to a few agencies. Modeling work led to TV commercials, which in turn led to work on a number of TV series including an episode of The Wonder Years which cast her as Fred Savage's literal dream girl.
Alicia Silverstone first gained attention in a popular trilogy of Aerosmith videos
and the feature "The Crush" (1993), sort of a "Fatal Attraction" for the Clearasil set. Already strikingly attractive and remarkably self-assured, the then-15-year-old blonde dazzled in her video appearances, playing a burgeoning sexpot with an edge. In "The Crush", Silverstone portrayed an unstable teen in love with an older man (Carey Elwes). Although the feature fizzled commercially, its leading lady won two MTV Movie
awards Best Villain and Best Breakthrough Performance. Some have speculated she received these honors more for her work with Aerosmith than for her feature bad girl.
Silverstone went on to play Jeff Goldblum's imperiled daughter in "Hideaway" (1995), a supernatural flop. She had fared better on the small screen in "The Cool and the Crazy" (1994), a Ralph Bakshi-directed installment of Showtime's "Rebel Highway" telefilm series, playing a troubled young bride. Silverstone returned to the big screen for Amy Heckerling's "Clueless" (1995), a critical and commercial success perhaps best described as a "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" spin on Jane Austen's "Emma". Silverstone displayed a penchant for
character driven comedy as an affluent teen who comes to question her values, a role which fit her like a glove.
In 2001, Silverstone played an American rocker in England for the straight to
video "Rock My World" which, despite providing little more than a blip on her resume, gave her the opportunity to work with the iconic Peter O'Toole. |
