American actress Alicia Silverstone debuted in the 1993 thriller The Crush, for which she won the 1994 MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance. She also became even more well-known as a teen idol after she starred in the music videos for the songs 'Cryin',' 'Amazing,' and 'Craz'y by Aerosmith. She later landed a multi-million dollar agreement with Columbia Pictures after playing Cher Horowitz in the 1995 adolescent comedy Clueless. She played Batgirl in the 1997 superhero movie Batman & Robin.
Silverstone's performance in the short-lived NBC sitcom Miss Match earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress – Television sitcom Musical or Comedy. She has persisted in performing on stage, in movies, and on television.
Silverstone, a vegan, has written two recipes, The Kind Mama and The Kind Diet, and has supported PETA initiatives.
Childhood
The daughter of British parents, Monty Silverstone, an English real estate agent, and Deirdre 'Didi' Silverstone, a Scottish former Pan Am flight attendant, Silverstone was born in San Francisco, California. Hillsborough, California, is where she was raised. Her mother converted to Conservative Judaism prior to marriage, and her father was born into a Jewish family. A Bat Mitzvah ceremony was held in Silverstone. She started modeling at the age of six, and later appeared in TV ads, her first of which was for Domino's Pizza. She went to San Mateo High School after attending Crocker Middle School.
Career in the 1990s
In 1992, she made her acting debut as Kevin's high school 'dream girl' in the 'Road Test' episode of The Wonder Years. She was legally emancipated at the age of 15 to work the hours needed for the film's shooting schedule, and Silverstone made her cinematic debut when she landed the lead role in the erotic thriller The Crush, portraying a teenage girl who sets out to ruin an older man after he rejects her. For the part, she took home Best Breakthrough Performance and Best Villain at the 1994 MTV Movie Awards. During her early career, Silverstone produced a few television movies, such as Scattered Dreams, Cool and the Crazy, and Torch Song.
Marty Callner, who had seen Silverstone in The Crush, thought she would be ideal for a part in the music video he was making for Aerosmith, 'Cryin'.' The song video, which features Silverstone receiving a navel piercing, is widely recognized as the one that popularized the practice. She later appeared in the 'Amazing' and 'Craz'y Aerosmith videos. She became well-known as a result of them, which were incredibly successful for Silverstone and the band. Silverstone was chosen by director Amy Heckerling to play Cher Horowitz, a posh yet kind kid from Beverly Hills, in the coming-of-age comedy Clueless after watching her in the three videos. As a result of Clueless' success and critical acclaim in the summer of 1995, Silverstone inked a $8–10 million contract with Columbia-TriStar. She received a three-year first-look contract for her own production firm, First Kiss Productions, as part of the package. In addition, Silverstone received an American Comedy Award, a Blockbuster Entertainment Award, a Kids' Choice Award, a National Board of Review award, and Best Female Performance and Most Desirable Female at the 1996 MTV Movie Awards.
In 1995, Silverstone released three more films: The Babysitter, Hideaway, and Le Nouveau monde. She played a French boy's love interest in the French drama Le Nouveau monde about Americans. She portrayed the daughter of a man who dies in a car accident and is resurrected two hours later in the film adaptation of Dean Koontz's novel Hideaway. The Babysitter was an erotic thriller directed by Guy Ferland and was based on Robert Coover's eponymous short story from his 1969 collection Pricksongs and Descants.
She played a Catholic school student looking for a teenage girl killer in the 1996 direct-to-video thriller True Crime. Her subsequent role in Batman & Robin was that of Barbara Wilson/Batgirl. The movie, which had a $160 million budget, made a meager $238 million worldwide, and critics gave her role as Batgirl mixed reviews, with some even calling it one of the worst movies ever made. Silverstone received a Blimp Award at the Kid's Choice Awards for the role, but she also won a Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress.
The debut movie from Silverstone's production firm, Excess Baggage, was out in 1997 as well. She plays a neglected young woman in the movie who pretends to be abducted by a vehicle thief in order to attract the attention of her affluent father. In North America, the movie only made $14.5 million and got mediocre reviews from reviewers. Roger Ebert said she was 'no better than OK' because he thought she was miscast. In the 1999 romantic comedy Blast from the Past, which was directed by Hugh Wilson and co-starred Brendan Fraser, Christopher Walken, and Sissy Spacek, Silverstone played the lead role. The movie received a mixed critical reception and earned a respectable $40 million worldwide.