| Alyssa Milano is the daughter of Italian-American parents
Lin, a fashion designer, and Tom, a film music editor. Alyssa was born in
a working class neighborhood in Brooklyn and grew up in a modest house on
Staten Island. One day, her babysitter, who was an aspiring dancer,
dragged Alyssa along to a an open audtion for the first national tour of
Annie. But it was Alyssa, not the sitter, who beat out 1,500 other wanna
be stage actresses to snag a role. So at the tender age of seven, with her
mother in tow, Alyssa joined the tour as July, one of the orphans. After
18 months on the road, Alyssa, who had begun to garner a reputation as an
energetic and charismatic young actress, left Annie to be featured in
off-Broadway productions and television commercials. Then in 1983, at age
10, she landed her breakthrough role on the new sitcom "Who's the
Boss?" as Tony Danza's saccharine sweet daughter, Samantha Micelli, a
kid whose native Brooklyn accent rivaled her TV dad's. In order for Alyssa
to accept the gig, the Milano family had to uproot and move 3,000 miles to
Hollywood. |