Alyssa Milano was born in December of 1972 to Tom and Lin Milano. She has a younger brother Cory who has acted in some of Alyssa's movies.Alyssa's career started in 1980 when she landed a part of one of the orphans, June, in the musical Annie, which toured throughout the United States for 14 months. Hot on the heels of her success in the musical Annie, Alyssa next won the part of Adele in the musical version of Jayne Eyre and followed that with a role in Tender Offer at the New York Ensemble Studio Theatre. Alyssa next appeared in John O'Keefe's All Night Long at Manhattan's Second Stage Theatre.

Her feature film debut came in 1983 when she appeared in the movie Old Enough.Wanting to get into television, because she hadnt done that before, she started auditioning for some TV pilots. She went in for the role of Samantha Micelli without having read any script for the show she would star on for so long, Who's the Boss?. Obviously she got the part. In no time she was acting alongside veterans like Tony Danza, famous for his part on Taxi, and Katherine Helmond, famous for her part on Soap.

Who's The Boss? got picked up by ABC Television Network and debuted on September 20, 1984. Her father quit his job and moved to Los Angeles with Alyssa first, to be followed by her mom and brother after a few months. Her mother had a store that she closed to be there for Alyssa's career. After switching time slots a bit Who's the Boss?' became a huge hit.During the run of Who's the Boss? Alyssa ventured out into the movie world, appearing in the classic Schwarzenegger movie Commando, and in some teen-tv-movies (Crash Course, Dance 'Till Dawn).