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.
Milano’s 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 Who’s 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 Milano’s 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 Candie’s 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.