Hailed as the teen queen ofthe mid-'90s, Alicia Silverstone rapidly ascended the summit of idolism withthe help of an infamous Aerosmith video and starring roles in the cult trashfavorite The Crush, and Amy Heckerling's sleeper hit Clueless.
Born to English parents inSan Francisco on October 4, 1976, Silverstone is the daughter of a real-estateagent and an airline stewardess. At theage of 15, Silverstone landed her first starring role in The Crush (1993), aFatal Attraction for the Noxema set in which she portrayed a young womanobsessed with an older man (Cary Elwes). Although the film was trashed bycritics, it was a hit among its teenage target audience, and Silverstone who had become legally emancipated from herparents while making the film in order to work longer hours was feted at the 1994 MTV Movie Awards withtrophies for Best Villain and Breakthrough Performance. Around the same time,she starred in the popular music video for Aerosmith's "Crazy." Heronscreen antics with Liv Tyler, daughter of Aerosmith frontman Steven, coupledwith her vampish turn in The Crush virtually ensured Silverstone's status asHollywood's latest embodiment of nubile, underage female sexuality.
After a nearly two-yearabsence from the screen, Silverstone resurfaced in 1999 with Blast from thePast. A likable romantic comedy that cast her as a cynical Valley girl oppositeBrendan Fraser, the film enjoyed modest success. In 2001, Silverstone playedan American rocker in England for the straight-to-video Rock My World (akaGlobal Heresay), which, despite providing little more than a blip on herresumé, gave her the opportunity to work with the iconic Peter O'Toole. Afterserving as executive producer for the animated television series Braceface,Silverstone went on to star in NBC's 2003 sketch comedy Miss Match, whichfeatured the young actress as a divorced lawyer cum matchmaker whose goodintentions were not necessarily met with equally positive results. In the sameyear, she starred opposite Rachael Leigh Cook in Scorched; this time playing adisgruntled bank teller. Silverstone played a role in Scooby Doo 2 Monsters Unleashedalongside fellow twentysomethings Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr.in the summer of 2004.