Alicia Silverstone was born October 4, 1976, in San Francisco, California. The daughter of a real estate investor and a flight attendant, Silverstone’s acting career blossomed from an early age.

Silverstone didn’t make her big-screen debut until five years later, in the 1993 drama-thriller The Crush. In this film, Silverstone played a fourteen year old teenager dangerously obsessed with an older journalist. When he refused her illicit and illegal advances, Silverstone’ character proceeded to make more than trouble in his life. While critics remained unenthused about Silverstone’s scandalous debut, the audiences loved it. Silverstone came home with two MTV Movie Awards to her credit—Best Breakthrough Performance and Best Villain. Alicia Silverstone was also nominated for the Young Artist Award in the category of Lead Youth Actress.

With the backing of her fellow teen community behind her, Silverstone worked steadily in the years following The Crush. In fact, she worked so steadily she needed to be declared an emancipated minor in order to skirt child labor laws concerning the number of hours she could work in a day. Her performance caught the attention of wildly popular band Aerosmith, who cast her in several of their music videos including “Amazing” and “Cryin’,” both 1993. “Cryin’” in particular, captured the MTV crowd, and they voted it the #1 music video of all time.