The film was screened at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won First Prize. 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'. I consider myself to be normal: I've got to clean my room, and help in the kitchen.' 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. 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. 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. During the course of her work in the play, Milano and her mother were on the road for 18 months.

She was one of four selected from more than 1,500 girls. Milano began her career at age seven, when her babysitter, without notifying her parents, took her to an audition for the national touring company of Annie. She is of Italian descent and has a brother named Cory, who is a decade younger. Alyssa Jayne Milano was born in the Bensonhurst neighborhood of New York City's Brooklyn borough on December 19, 1972, the daughter of fashion designer and talent manager Lin Milano and film music editor Thomas M.