Alyssa Milano

Alyssa Jayne Milano (born December 19, 1972) is an American actress, producer, activist, and former singer.

She has played Samantha Micelli in Who's the Boss?, Jennifer Mancini in Melrose Place, Phoebe Halliwell in Charmed, Billie Cunningham in My Name Is Earl, Savannah "Savi" Davis in Mistresses, Renata Murphy in Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later, and Coralee Armstrong in Insatiable.

Alyssa Jayne Milano was born in the Bensonhurst neighborhood of New York City's Brooklyn borough on December 19, 1972, the daughter of fashion designer and talent manager Lin Milano and film music editor Thomas M. Milano.

She is of Italian descent and has a brother named Cory, who is a decade younger.

She was raised Catholic.

Milano began her career at age seven, when her babysitter, without notifying her parents, took her to an audition for the national touring company of Annie.

She was one of four selected from more than 1,500 girls.

During the course of her work in the play, Milano and her mother were on the road for 18 months.

After returning to New York, Milano appeared in television commercials, and performed several roles in off-Broadway productions, including the first American musical adaptation of Jane Eyre.

When accompanying a friend from the Annie production to the office of a New York agent, Milano was introduced to the agent, who began representing her.

She does not feel that growing up in front of the camera harmed her childhood and has said: "I love my family very much – they've really backed my career. I consider myself to be normal: I've got to clean my room, and help in the kitchen."

In August 1984, Milano made her film debut in the coming-of-age drama Old Enough, which she recalled as a "great" way for "starting out".

The film was screened at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won First Prize.

Milano auditioned as the daughter of Tony Danza's character on the sitcom Who's the Boss? After winning the part, she and her family moved to Los Angeles, where the show was produced.

It premiered on ABC on September 20, 1984.

Throughout Who's the Boss?, Milano developed a close relationship with co-star Danza.

Commenting on their early years together, Danza observed: "She was just the sweetest little girl of all time ... She became much like my daughter."

The series established Milano as a teen idol, and provided her opportunities for other roles.

Her education was split between school and an on-set tutor with whom Milano would work for three hours a day.

At age 12, Milano co-starred in Commando as Jenny Matrix, the daughter of John Matrix (Arnold Schwarzenegger).

Subsequently, she starred in the children's film The Canterville Ghost, which did not achieve much praise or attention and Variety magazine noted in its review: "Milano as the catalyzing daughter Jennifer adapts to the Ghostly Sir Simon without a qualm; that, of course, is the true charm of the story, but Milano doesn't exhibit enough presence to match the droll, charming Gielgud".

A few years later this film was shown in Japan, prompting a producer to offer Milano a five-album record deal.

Milano's albums, which she described as "bubblegum pop", scored platinum in the country, though she later criticised their musical quality.

She has noted her love of English electronic band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) during her teenage years.

On stage, Milano starred in Tender Offer, a one-act play written by Wendy Wasserstein, All Night Long by American playwright John O'Keefe, and the first American musical adaptation of Jane Eyre.

Milano starred in two 1988 television films, Crash Course and Dance 'til Dawn.

She produced a teen workout video, Teen Steam, and achieved some fame outside the US with her music career, which lasted until the early 1990s.

Even though she scored platinum in Japan, Milano had no interest to pursue a music career in the United States: "I'm not interested in crossing over. I'd much rather have it released where it's appreciated than laughed at."

Simultaneously, she wrote a weekly column called "From Alyssa, with love" for the teen magazine Teen Machine.

She returned to the theater in 1991, producing and starring in a Los Angeles production of Butterflies Are Free from December 26, 1991, to January 19, 1992.

Milano played a teenage prostitute in the 1992 independent film Where the Day Takes You.

The film, which focuses on a group of young runaway and homeless teenagers, was shot on and around Hollywood Boulevard.

and was met with positive critical reception.

It was nominated for the Critics Award at the Deauville Film Festival, and won the Golden Space Needle Award at the Seattle International Film Festival.

Although Milano feared that viewers would only recognize her as "the girl from Who's the Boss?", she was noticed by the media, which helped her land the role of Amy Fisher in the high-profile TV movie Casualties of Love: The "Long Island Lolita" Story, one of three TV films based on Fisher's shooting of Mary Jo Buttafuoco.

Milano said that her portrayal of Fisher in the film, which was based on the Buttafuoco's point of view, "was the least 'Alyssa' of anything [she had] done."

The film was shot from November–December 1992.

She welcomed the cancellation of the series, as she was ready to move on to other roles and enthusiastic to "showcase" what she was able to do.

Both projects allowed her to work alongside close personal friend Brian Bloom, who worked with his brother Scott with her in episodes of Who's the Boss; this working camaraderie would later expand in 1993 when Milano made a cameo appearance in Bloom's film The Webbers.

As an activist, Milano is known for her role in the MeToo movement in October 2017.