Alyssa Milano

Alyssa Milano (born December 19, 1972 in Brooklyn, New York) portrays Phoebe Halliwell in the series Charmed.

She also portrayed Pearl Russell in Season 2 as well as the characters that also had her appearance at one time, including Marshall, Paige Matthews, Cole Turner, Kaia, Mitzy Stillman, Imara and Phoenix



Biography
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 audition 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?" (1984) 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

Career

 * Who's the Boss? (1984-1992)
 * Poison Ivy 2: Lily (1996)
 * Fear (1996)
 * Melrose Place (1997-98)
 * Lady and the Tramp 2 (2001) (voice)
 * Charmed (1998-2006)
 * The Blue Hour (2007)
 * My Name Is Earl (2007-2008)
 * Wisegal
 * Pathology
 * Romantically Challenged (2010)
 * My Boyfriends girlfriend (2010)
 * Hall Pass (2011)

Personal Life


Alyssa Milano has had a Dyslexia Disorder ever since she was in elementry school. In 2004 Milano came out and explained in a interview how she had learned to deal and work with her disorder:


 * "I've stumbled over words while reading from teleprompters. Sir John Gielgud, whom I worked with on The Canterville Ghost years ago, gave me great advice. When I asked how he memorized his monologues, he said, 'I write them down.' I use that method to this day. It not only familiarizes me with the words, it makes them my own."

Milano has always been a huge fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. In 2007 she created her own signature "Touch" line of team apparel for female baseball fans, currently available on Major League Baseball's website, along with her own baseball blog, which began selling 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 in the same hometown as NFL Network's Rich Eisen (Staten Island), she revealed some of her family's connections with the New York Giants while she picked the winners of NFL games for week 7 of 2008.

Milano has a collection of 8 tattoos on her body:


 * The rosary tattoo placed on her right shoulder blade shows this deep devotion for her religion.


 * The tattoo on her neck is a variation of the Bhuddist symbol for HUM and can be interpreted as a symbol for depth of wisdom and unity


 * The left wrist is the Buddhist symbol for Om which is used in many religious chants and symbolizes the essence of the universe


 * The right wrist contains a tattoo of an ouroboros, a snake biting it's own tale that represents the circular flow of things including death and rebirth


 * On her left ankle she has an angel, which also has the initials of an ex flame


 * On her right ankle is a wraparound chain of roses, red petals and green leaves


 * Her other tattoos consist of a kneeling fairy with grass and flowers on her lower stomach

Milano is a vegetarian and appears in numerous PETAadvertising campaigns for vegetarianism. Outside of acting, her hobbies include photography, humanitarian work, and spending time with her three dogs and eight horses.
 * and Her lower back region has a sacred heart which symbolizes a zeal for life and love

In 2005, she was ranked #5 in the "50 Cutest Child Stars — All Grown Up".

Milano was briefly married to singer-songwriter Cinjun Tate in 1999; they were divorced later that same year. She briefly dated Justin Timberlake in 2002. She has dated a number of professional athletes, including Brad Penny, Carl Pavano, Barry Zito and Russell Martin. She is currently engaged to CAA agent David Bugliari; the couple became engaged on December 18, 2008, after more than a year of dating. The couple were married on August 15, 2009 in an Italian, garden-themed ceremony at her parents' New Jersey estate.

Trivia

 * Alyssa has dyslexia
 * Alyssa loves Baseball but hated the fact that there was no baseball clothing for women. This is the reason behind her own clothing line Touch by Alyssa Milano.
 * Ariel, the Little Mermaid's appearance was based on Alyssa Milano, who was 16 at the time.
 * She is a big fan of the LA Dodgers.
 * Alyssa is a big supporter of "Trick or Treat for UNICEF".
 * Alyssa is a big supporter of PETA.
 * Alyssa is a vegetarian and supports it openly
 * Both Alyssa and Holly married a David.
 * Dated Charmed Co-star Brian Krause.
 * Milano said she cried for two weeks after Charmed ended.
 * She is a big part of the "Help to cure AIDS" in Africa.
 * She has a best-selling exercise video in 1988 called Teen Steam.
 * Holly Marie Combs and Shannen Doherty were her bridesmaids at her wedding to Cinjun August Tate.
 * Alyssa is allergic to soy products.
 * Alyssa and Holly Combs are close friends.
 * Alyssa Milano and Rose McGowan were both mentioned in Veronica Mars. Alyssa in season 1, Rose in season 3.
 * Alyssa states in "The Women of Charmed' interview that Aaron Spelling called her while she was in Hawaii and asked her to be Phoebe which of course, she gladly accepted.
 * She follows all of the three other main Charmed co-stars on Twitter.
 * Alyssa and Shannen Doherty were both cast in two of Aaron Spelling's famous TV Teen Soaps, Shannen on Beverly Hills 90210 and Alyssa on Melrose Place. Ironically, Melrose Place is a spin-off of Beverly Hills 90210.
 * Alyssa is extremely turned off by the MTV series Jersey Shore and it's misrepresentation of Italian-American people & residents of New Jersey, she has been called the "fearless leader" of those against the show. In December 2009, in association with the website FunnyorDie.com, Alyssa created a video where she is transformed into Snooki, showing how Italians and New Jerseyans are misrepresented in the series. Alyssa has said: "My husband actually showed me the trailer on YouTube last night, and I got upset. It upset me. I was like, 'Turn that off!' So no, I don't think I'll be watching that!'".