As much as I’ve seen her grow as an actress, Alicia Silverstone will always be a favorite of mine.
It’s not too much of a leap to claim that her portrayal of Cher Horowitz in 1995’s Clueless made her the IT Girl of the decade.
Numerous people’s formative years were shaped in large part by the winner of the prestigious MTV Movie Award, and Alicia appeared destined for greater things.
However, making one’s acting debut in a blockbuster film like Clueless was challenging. Today, most people have probably forgotten about her, despite the fact that she’s been taking up some rather modest but nevertheless noteworthy parts recently.
Alicia seems to have such a great spirit and demeanor, and she has aged nicely from the time I first saw her as a young star.
Like her Clueless character, Cher, Alicia Silverstone is probably thought of as a lovely, stylish girl from a rich background.
A deeper dive into Alicia’s background and current circumstances reveals that she is more complex than first appears.
Alica’s birth year is regarded as 1976 and she was born in San Francisco. Alicia’s mother was Scottish and a flight attendant for Pan Am; her English father was a real estate agent.
It was always something I wanted to do, and I’m not talking about movies specifically. As a kid, I didn’t even go to the movies.
She expressed it best in 1995: ‘I just wanted to be the word ‘actress,’ whatever that meant.’
Alicia’s dad was allegedly coerced into taking her to a modeling agency. She started her modeling career when she was just six years old. Alicia says she ‘hated it more than anything,’but that it helped her develop her acting skills.
Moreover, it was successful. She quickly rose to prominence, and soon became a favorite among producers looking to cast new characters. Domino’s Pizza was her first major TV commercial. As time went on, progress was made.
The next year, she made her cinematic debut in the psychological thriller The Crush. At the age of 16, Alicia played the lead role of a young woman who takes revenge on an adult male for ignoring her feelings.
Hated being by myself
It was immediately apparent that young Alicia had extraordinary talent, as she was awarded Best Breakthrough Performance and Best Villain at the 1994 MTV Movie Awards for her portrayal of a high school bully in the film The Crush.
But despite the success of The Crush and the acclaim she received for her performance, Alicia experienced personal difficulties on the set.
Yes, at the age of 15, I travelled to Canada on my own to film the movie, and I turned 16 while I was there.
I told myself, ‘I can accomplish anything.’ And yet, deep down inside, I felt incredibly alone. ‘I trusted everyone, and it was a big mistake,’ she said to Interview in 2013.
Alicia claims that she occasionally recalls her feelings for The Crush.
It’s not often that a young girl can be extremely aggressive and take over the whole movie, therefore I truly wish I could redo the film. ‘I really wish I’d had more experience back then,’she reflected.
Music videos featuring Aerosmith
Whatever the case, it was her work in The Crush that paved the way for her breakthrough performance in Clueless.
Famous filmmaker Marty Callner saw Silverstone in The Crush and immediately cast her in his upcoming music video for Aerosmith.
Silverstone told Rolling Stone in 1995, ‘He liked what he saw in the movie, and what he saw was a good actress, not a cute girl.’ What matters is the person inside.
Finally, Alicia was cast in three music videos with the successful band, and all of them became hugely popular.
Victory with Clueless
Amy Heckerling, a filmmaker, was just one of many people who had seen Alicia in the Aerosmith music videos.
She suggested she play Cher Horowitz in the teen comedy Clueless. What happened after that is, well, history.
The ensemble cast of 1995’s Clueless was incredibly diverse and went on to have long careers in the entertainment industry.
The film became an integral part of many people’s formative years, and I’ve heard from many that they can’t fathom their adolescence without it. Every 90s teen girl has a secret desire to one day become Cher.
Alicia played the role of pampered Beverly Hills teen Cher, a gorgeous and popular blonde who lives in a house with her affluent father.
Cher and Tai Frasier, both high school students, are the protagonists (played by Brittany Murphy).
Alicia claims that she modeled her famous actress role after a number of different screen legends on purpose.
‘I thought I was channeling Marilyn Monroe and Lucille Ball, and apparently that wasn’t the case,’ the 2014 MTV Movie Award winner stated at the Los Angeles Film Festival. But I really did feel that way!
The film is now regarded as a masterpiece of the 1990s, but its impact on culture can only be completely appreciated by looking back at the era in which it was released.
Cher’s possession of a cell phone at the time was indicative of the spoilt nature of the Beverly Hills girl set because everyone else didn’t have one.
The filmmakers researched actual pupils at a Beverly Hills high school to get a feel for the lingo they use on screen.
The slang employed in the film is now widely utilized. Some could even call it antiquated and irrelevant. Nevertheless, at the time, nobody spoke that way except the gals in LA.
Another striking aspect of Clueless was how little it relied on established ’90s fashion and language. Many viewers were blown away by the film’s innovative costume design.
Husband of Alicia Silverstone
Alicia’s priorities changed once she met Christopher Jarecki, her future husband.
As she developed an interest in activism and vegetarianism, she recognized that acting wasn’t her only calling.
Alicia and Christopher Jarecki, a rock musician, were long-term partners before they finally sealed the knot on June 11, 2005, in Lake Tahoe.
A son, Bear Blu Jarecki, was born to them in 2011. Solar panels and an organic garden made this Los Angeles home eco-friendly for the family.
Alicia has a deep connection with her son and enjoys her role as a mother. So, for instance, her 11-year-old kid continues to share a bed with both of his parents.
And I’m a caring mother. She made her beliefs on love and nature public, saying, ‘I believe in love, I believe in nature, and our culture is terrified of nature and love.’
Alicia and her husband divorced in 2018 due to their inability to resolve their disagreements. According to the terms of the deal, Alicia must pay her ex-husband $12,000 in spousal support every month.
‘They still passionately love and respect each other and remain very close friends,’ reads a statement issued by the exes.
An Actor’s Renaissance
Alicia’s acting career shifted gears in 2007. She was approached about performing in Boston Marriage, a play by David Mamet. She felt renewed energy after going through it.
‘My body was just like, this is what I’m meant to do, I love it so much, I need to find a way to be able to do both,’ she said of balancing her acting career with her activism.
She was busy in the theatre and with independent productions throughout the 2010s. Alicia wanted to strike a balance between acting, activism, and hobbies, thus she avoided big Hollywood films.
Vanity Fair quoted the MTV movie award winner from 2018 as saying, ‘I had no desire in being recognized or retaining any form of stardom.’
Today, she’s actively performing and making movies, just as she always wanted to. In 2020, she starred in the comic thriller film Bad Therapy and appeared in Sister of the Groom, which she also executive produced.
I’m relieved that Alicia has avoided a downward spiral in her nearly 30-year acting career. She will always be Cher from Clueless in my mind.
That she isn’t a major star right now is irrelevant compared to the fact that she created a classic and is enjoying a fulfilled life.
The fact that she didn’t artificially enhance her appearance pleases me much. She still has that endearing grin.
It seems like it would be difficult to launch an acting career with such a blockbuster hit as her first film; no matter how good her subsequent films were, they could never live up to the success of her first.
When considering her career thus far, though, Alicia Silverstone has much of which to be proud.