Alicia Silverstone Biography

Alicia Silverstone Biography

Alicia Silverstone was born at October 4, 1976, in San Francisco, California. Her father is Monty Silverstone, a British-born; Jewish; acted in a San Mateo County community-theater production "The Real Inspector Hound" (c.1996); reportedly appeared in an installment of NBC's "Unsolved Mysteries" (c. 1997) Alicia Silverstone's father, a native of East London, is Jewish. And her mother is Didi Silverstone, a Scottish-born; converted to husband's Jewish faith; born c. 1942.

She attended San Mateo High School but did not complete her high school studies. Silverstone is the youngest of three children and also has a half-sister, London rock singer Kezi Silverstone, and a half-brother, David Silverstone, both from her father's previous marriage. Silverstone visited England during the summer during her childhood. When she was six, she began modeling and was subsequently cast in television commercials, the first being for Domino's Pizza.

Alicia (pronounced a-LEE-cee-a) Silverstone first gained attention in a popular trilogy of Aerosmith videos ("Cryin'", "Amazing" and "Crazy") 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. 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.

After seeing her in The Crush, Marty Callner decided she'd be perfect for a role in a music video he was direction for the band Aerosmith, called "Cryin", and then the following two videos "Crazy" and "Amazing". These were hugely successful both for the band and Silverstone, making her a household name (and also gaining her the nickname, "the Aerosmith chick"). They also got her noticed by film maker Amy Heckerling, who after seeing them decided to cast her in Clueless.

Clueless, became a sleeper hit and critical darling during the summer of 1995. Silverstone's performance was well received, and she was branded the spokeswoman for an emerging young generation. As a result, she signed a deal with Columbia-TriStar worth $10 million. As part of the package, she got a three-year first-look deal for her own production company, First Kiss Productions. Silverstone also won "Best Female Performance" and "Most Desirable Female" by the MTV Movie Awards in 1996 for her performance in the film.

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. Her adroit performance skyrocketed her value, and the season's "It-Girl" subsequently signed a deal worth between $7 and 10 million to produce and star in two movies for Columbia Pictures. Furthermore, the savvy teenager snared a three-year non-exclusive "first-look" production pact with the studio for her production company, First Kiss Productions.

Silverstone's next two projects, "Batman & Robin" and "Excess Baggage" (both 1997), took some of the luster off the golden girl. Two years between projects had left the press with little to do but snipe at her purported weight gain, laying it on thick with the "Fatgirl" (or worse "Buttgirl") and "Excess Baggage" jokes, which Silverstone took in stride.

What was harder to take was the out-and-out failure of both films. She had little connection with the "Batman" debacle beyond her miscasting and presence at the train wreck. But "Excess Baggage", the first offering of her production company, was a hopelessly muddled product of seven screenwriters (not all credited) that suffered simultaneously from too much control and not enough control on the part of Silverstone, leaving her career (and company) in need of a very good outing next time around.

Silverstone appeared in Kenneth Branagh's film adaptation of the Shakespeare play Love's Labour's Lost in 2000, in which she was required to sing and dance.

In 2001, Silverstone provided the voice of Sharon Spitz, the lead character in the Canadian animated television Braceface.

She then effectively removed herself from the public eye for a few years, resurfacing in the critically acclaimed NBC television show Miss Match, which was cancelled after thirteen episodes in fall 2003. This long hiatus was referred to in the pilot episode of the television series Get Real, as an exasperated Kenny remarked, "Why can't I fall off the face of the earth, like Alicia Silverstone?"

Silverstone later acknowledged that she hates the trappings of fame, insisting that being a celebrity is a horrific ordeal that she wouldn't want her worst enemy to suffer. According to Silverstone, "Fame is not anything I wish on anyone. You start acting because you love it. Then success arrives, and suddenly you're on show.

Unfortunately, she opted for the pallid romantic comedy "Blast From the Past" (1999) opposite Brendan Fraser. Although on paper the project appeared to have possibilities (he's lived his whole life in an underground fallout shelter, she's the contemporary chick who introduces him to the ways of the world), the final execution left reviewers and audiences bored. Silverstone fared much better in an unlikely role, her first Shakespearean part in "Love's Labour's Lost" (2000), Kenneth Branagh's musical take on the Bard's romantic comedy. While some found his homage to the musical films of the 1930s and 40s a bit much, most were entranced by the leading lady. Silverstone also exhibited her sweet, if untrained, vocal ability in the film.

An avowed vegan with strong socio-politiical views on animals rights, Silverstone soon spent much of her time promoting animal friendly causes, including lending her voice to 13-year-old Sharon Spitz, the lead character of the socially conscious and frequently awarded animated TV series "Braceface" (2001-2003), which the actress also executive produced.

On screen, Silverstone's 2002 heist comedy "Scorched" and rock satire "Global Heresy" made little impact, but that same year she received many positive critical notices for her stint on Broadway as Elaine Robinson in the popular stage production of the classic 1967 film "The Graduate," opposite Jason Biggs and Kathleen Turner. By then Silverstone was prime for a major comeback, but this time the medium would be the small screen.

She teamed with producer Darren Star in a repeat of the formula that Star was so successful with when he teamed with former screen star Sarah Jessica Parker: he took the well-liked Silverstone and made her into a TV dream girl--with winning personality, great clothes and an enviable urban lifestyle--and plugged her into "Miss Match" (NBC, 2003- ), a lighthearted, romance-minded series in which she starred as Kate Fox, divorce lawyer by day and professional matchmaker by night.

Although sweeter and not as edgy as "Miss Match" successfully revived interest in Silverstone and rekindled her "Clueless" image as a cute, good-hearted, ideal gal pal--although more grown-up. However, the show struggled to find an audience.

Meanwhile, the actress stayed active on the big screen as well with a turn as a sexy investigative reporter badgering Scooby, Shaggy and the gang in the sequel "Scoopy Doo 2: Monster Unleashed" (2004), and had a scene-stealing comedic dance sequence in the "Babershop" spinoff with a female slant, "Beauty Shop" (2005).

For the pilot season of 2006-2007, Alicia Silverstone surfaced on pilot being developed by ABC called Pink Collar, in which she would have worked in a law firm.

Silverstone's most recent movie, Stormbreaker, was released in the UK on July 21, 2006, and in North America on October 13, 2006. Silverstone filmed the role of Jack Starbright (Alex Rider's housekeeper and guardian) in the summer of 2005, several days after her wedding. She took the role because the opportunity to work with co-stars Ewan McGregor and Sophie Okonedo, both of whom she has said she admires.

In November 2006, Alicia Silverstone starred in the television movie Candles on Bay Street for Hallmark Hall of Fame, based on the book by Cathie Pelletier under the pseudonym of K.C. Mikinnon.

Alicia Silverstone's Personal life

Silverstone married longtime boyfriend, rock musician Christopher Jarecki, in a beachfront ceremony at Lake Tahoe on June 11, 2005. The couple had dated for eight years prior to being married, after meeting outside a movie theater in 1997. They got engaged about a year before their marriage and Silverstone's engagement ring belonged to Jarecki's grandmother. They live in an eco-friendly Los Angeles house complete with solar panels and an organic vegetable garden. She bought the house, shared with a "menagerie of rescued dogs," in 1996. Silverstone drives a Mercedes Benz.

Alicia Silverstone's Political beliefs

Ms. Silverstone has strong political opinions and is noted for being an animal welfare and environmental activist. She also became a vegan in 1998 after attending an animal rights meeting. "I realized that I was the problem," she told InStyle Home in spring 2007. "I was an animal lover who was eating animals." In 2004, Silverstone was voted "Sexiest Female Vegetarian" by PETA.

Records also reveal that Silverstone contributed $500 to Dennis Kucinich's 2004 Presidential campaign.

On May 23, 2007, Silverstone was a guest on ABC's The View. Moments before she entered, hosts Rosie O'Donnell and Elisabeth Hasselbeck had a heated argument regarding the Iraq war. The video segment shows Silverstone entering and walking past Hasselbeck to greet the other hosts. Though the interview continued normally and featured easy conversation between Silverstone and Hasselbeck, Access Hollywood deemed the act a deliberate snub. Neither Silverstone nor Hasselbeck released statements regarding the matter.

Alicia Silverstone Photos