Alyssa Jayne Milano (December 19, 1972, New York City, USA) is an American actress, producer, and political activist. She is known for her roles as 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: 10 Years Later and Coralee Armstrong in Insatiable. As a political activist, she is best known for re-launching the Me Too movement in 2017.
Milano was born on December 19, 1972, in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, the daughter of fashion designer and talent manager Lin Milano and film-music editor Thomas M. Milano. She and her brother, Cory, who is a decade her junior, are of Italian ancestry. She was raised Roman Catholic.
Milano began her career at age seven, when her babysitter, without notifying Milano's parents, took her to an audition for one of the four principal parts in a national touring company of Annie. Milano 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.[8] 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 Tony Danza's daughter 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).
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. 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".
In late 1996, Milano was offered a role of Jennifer Mancini on the drama Melrose Place by producer Aaron Spelling: "We were looking for someone with sparkle. Alyssa was the perfect choice." She left early in season seven. In 1998, she was cast as Phoebe Halliwell, one of the three lead characters on Spelling's show Charmed. She and Holly Marie Combs became producers for the show during season four. The series ran for eight seasons, concluding in 2006. In 1998, she played Mark Hoppus's love interest in the music video for Blink-182's "Josie".
In 2007, Milano's commercial work included two 2007 television ads for Veet and Sheer Cover. That year, she filmed a pilot for ABC called Reinventing the Wheelers, which was not picked up for the 2007–08 season. That season she appeared in ten episodes of My Name Is Earl.
Milano was part of TBS's special coverage installment Hot Corner for the 2007 Major League Baseball playoffs. A fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers, in April 2007, Milano began writing a baseball blog on the Major League Baseball's website. That year she reported at Fenway Park during the ALDS between the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
The same year, she launched her signature "Touch" line of team apparel for female baseball fans, selling it through her blog on Major League Baseball's website. It also became available in 2009 through a boutique store located in Citi Field, the home of the New York Mets. She has an interest in the Los Angeles Kings, a National Hockey League team, and is involved with a related clothing line. In 2008, she expanded that to NFL football, as a New York Giants fan. Since Milano is from the same hometown as NFL Network's Rich Eisen, she revealed some of her family's connections with the Giants. In 2013, Milano expanded "Touch" into NASCAR.
On March 20, 2009, it was announced that Milano voiced Dr. Ilyssa Selwyn in Ghostbusters: The Video Game. In a 2010 interview she told the press that she had 'a blast' working on the game, although she recalled it being 'odd' having to grunt in a room alone. On March 24, 2009, her book on her baseball fandom, Safe At Home: Confessions of a Baseball Fanatic, was released. Milano has signed on to star in and produce My Girlfriend's Boyfriend, a romantic comedy in which she plays a woman with a relationship dilemma. Milano starred in the sitcom Romantically Challenged as Rebecca Thomas, a recently divorced single mother attorney in Pittsburgh who has not dated "since Bill Clinton was president". The series premiered on ABC on April 19, 2010. The series was canceled after airing four episodes. Milano produced and led the cast of Lifetime's TV film Sundays at Tiffany's. which was her second collaboration with Lifetime, after Wisegal (2008).
| Year | Image | Character | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 
|
Dr. Ilyssa Selwyn | Ghostbusters: The Video Game |
| 2005 | 
|
26 | Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone |