Before she ever became the cultural icon Cher Horowitz, actress Alicia Silverstone was focused on a career far removed from Hollywood: ballet. The star grew up in Northern California and dedicated her childhood to dance, a passion that felt destined until one brutal remark changed her entire path.
In a recent interview, Silverstone recalled the exact moment her ambition was shattered. “I was just a little girl putting on little dance shows at home,” she tells Entertainment Weekly, explaining her life revolved around ballet classes when she wasn’t playing on her Game Boy.
But then, “my dreams got crushed,” she says matter-of-factly. Her dance instructor delivered a painful, unsolicited body assessment: “My ballet teacher smacked my bum and said something like ‘You’re too short to be a ballet dancer and your butt sticks out too much.'” Silverstone is able to laugh about the comment now: “I do have a butt, but still.” The incident, which happened when she was a child, forced her to put her creative energy toward acting instead.
From Barre to Batgirl
While the hurtful comments from her youth steered her away from the stage, Silverstone’s tenacity launched her onto the screen. She quickly became one of the defining faces of the 1990s. Her breakout moment came in 1993 with the psychological thriller The Crush, but her status was cemented two years later. In 1995, she starred as the witty, fashion-forward Cher Horowitz in Clueless, a performance that remains her most notable and beloved role. She followed that success by starring as Barbara Wilson/Batgirl in the 1997 blockbuster Batman & Robin.
The scrutiny, however, did not stop when she left the ballet studio. During the peak of her fame in the 90s, Silverstone faced body shaming from the media and press. In recent years, the star has responded to these attacks, often posting messages to Instagram where she addresses criticism of her physique, reminding fans that kindness is always in style.
Throughout the late 90s and 2000s, Silverstone appeared in various genres, from the romantic-comedy Blast from the Past (1999) to a role alongside Queen Latifah in Beauty Shop (2005). More recently, she has garnered attention for her dramatic work, including her turn in Yorgos Lanthimos‘s thriller The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017) and the recent Netflix film Reptile (2023).
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