At home on stage, big and
(especially) small screen, Alyssa Milano grew up in the
public eye, but when it got just a little too public, she
stopped pornographers in their tracks.
Milanos professional
acting debut came at the age of eight, when she spent a
year on tour with the Broadway hit, Annie (1980). She moved
to roles in off-Broadway productions of Jane Eyre, Tender
Offer, All Night Long and Warning Signals.
It was in 1984 that she
made her movie debut, in Old Enough, and her breakthrough
television debut, playing Samantha in Whos The Boss?
for an eight-year run. During those years she was cast in
the movies Commando (1995), The Canterville Ghost (TV -
1986), Driving School (TV - 1988), Dance Til Dawn
(TV - 1988), Speed Zone! (1989), Where The Day Takes You
(1992), and Little Sister (1992). During 88 and 89
she tried her hand at self-titled music and self improvement
videos for her teen peers with Alyssa Milanos Teen
Steam and Alyssa Milano: Look In My Heart.
The now-veteran actor moved
on to steady movie work with 1993's The Webbers, Double
Dragon, Conflict of Interest, Confessions of a Sorority
Girl (TV), Casualties of Love: The Long Island Lolita Story
(TV), Candles In The Dark (TV), and 1994's spooky Embrace
Of The Vampire. In 1995 she took on roles in The Surrogate
(TV), Poison Ivy II: Lily, and Deadly Sins; and, in 1996,
Public Enemies, Jimmy Zip, Fear, Glory Daze, and To Brave
Alaska.
In 1997, Milano was cast
in another career-boosting TV series role as a way cool,
sexy trouble-maker in Melrose Place, and continued her film
career with Body Count and Hugo Pool. In 1998, it was back
to Alaska with the TV drama Goldrush: A Real Life Alaskan
Adventure, and then on to the dizzying success of the TV
series, Charmed. That program, which follows the adventures
of a trio of crime-fighting witch sisters, has the distinction
(despite critics decrying bad dialogue and laughable
special effects) of being the most-watched Warner
Bros. premiere ever.
Meanwhile, off camera, that
year Milano successfully sued several Webmasters who had
been posting her nude image illegally, and she used the
proceeds to launch her own porn-free Internet enterprise.
In 1999, Milano married,
then divorced (11 months later), singer Cinjin August Tate.
On camera, she was cast in Blink -182: The Urethra Chronicles
and was, as well, the star of several provocative
Candies fragrance ads, while becoming even more popular
as the wackiest wiccan on Charmed.
Upcoming for the actor in
2000 is the moo-vie, Buying The Cow and at least another
season of Charmed. With her stunning beauty and admirable
ambition, Milano is sure to enjoy a charmed
future.