While we’ve featured many a male ‘90s teen dreamboat (click to see all of them) here at Retropond, guys weren’t the only ones making hearts go wild in the ‘90s. Female teen stars were also a big thing in the ‘90s, whether they were eye candy for the guys, or someone to look up to for the girls. Today, we’re going to look at one such girl next door who was one of America’s favorite teen idols of the ‘90s: Larisa Oleynik.
Growing up in the San Francisco area, Larisa got an early start in her acting career at just 8-years-old when she spotted an audition ad in a newspaper for a local production of Les Miserables. She won two roles in the musical as Young Cosette and Young Eponine, and the acting bug was there to stay. She met fellow child actor Rider Strong during that production (he played Gavroche), and ended up working with his agent and acting coach. Soon enough, she was going to Los Angeles with the Strong family for auditions.
After a small guest stint on Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, Larisa got her big break when she won the role of Alex Mack on The Secret World of Alex Mack. Alex Mack was as much of a smash hit as you could get on Nickelodeon in the ‘90s, and it made Larisa an instant star. While she tried to lead as normal a life as possible, inevitably, she started getting recognized while out in public. Being part of the Nickelodeon family, she was also involved in some of their charities, and also apparently wrote an advice column for Tiger Beat magazine.
Interestingly, Alex Mack could have continued on longer, but Larisa wanted to step back from the show after four seasons. She wasn’t sure she wanted to continue acting as her career, and ended up going to college at Sarah Lawrence. Though she didn’t study theater or acting in any way while she was there, when she graduated, she realized that she did want to continue on with her acting career. While you may not have seen her in any super high profile roles like Alex Mack, she has maintained a steady career with recurring roles on Pretty Little Liars, Mad Men, and Hawaii Five-0.
Larisa has also re-visited her early days of theater by starring in a one-woman show in 2016 called I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti, as well as an Off-Broadway musical comedy in 2017 called Baghdaddy. It’s nice to see a child star who can actually continue their acting career, right? It seems like a lot of them either fade into obscurity, or go off the deep end. Luckily, Larisa has continued on, but, before you go checking out all of her more recent roles, let’s take a look back at some of her most memorable roles from the ‘90s!
The Secret World of Alex Mack (1994-1998)
Larisa’s most memorable role definitely has to be as the titular Alex Mack. For those who don’t remember, or never watched (gasp!), The Secret World of Alex Mack was all about, well, Alex Mack, who got dosed with some chemicals and gained powers, including telekinesis, shooting electricity from her fingers, and the ability to dissolve into a mobile puddle of… something kind of like water. The show was on the air for four seasons, and though it could have continued on, Larisa wanted to focus on school, so she declined to sign on for a fifth season and potential movie.
The Baby-Sitters Club (1995)
The big screen adaptation of the hugely popular book series The Baby-Sitters Club featured Larisa as the character Dawn Schafer. Though it was nice to see a movie version of many girls’ favorite book series, it didn’t quite capture what made the books so popular. The movie suffered a bit because, while each book could focus on a specific babysitter, the movie had to focus on all of them, thus making it feel a bit fragmented.
Boy Meets World (1996-1998)
Larisa had a recurring role on Boy Meets World as Dana Pruitt, a girl that Shawn Hunter (Rider Strong) had a crush on. She and Shawn became boyfriend and girlfriend on the show, but eventually broke up when it seemed like Mr. Turner might try to date Dana’s mom. Dana showed up again later on the show in the episode “First Girlfriends Club,” an episode where she and other former girlfriends of Shawn try to prevent him from doing the same to Angela, his new girlfriend.
10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
Larisa’s other truly iconic role from the ‘90s came in the form of 10 Things I Hate About You, a modern update to the Shakespeare classic The Taming of the Shrew. In 10 Things, Larisa plays Bianca, the pretty, popular younger sister who wants to go on dates, but can’t because her older sister Kat (played by Julia Stiles) won’t date anyone. Though Bianca is only interested in the hot, popular guy at first (played by Andrew Keegan, a teen dreamboat we’ve previously written about), she eventually realizes that nice guy Cameron (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is actually who she should be focusing on. This is a great movie, and if you haven’t seen it, you’re really missing out.
3rd Rock from the Sun (1998-2000)
In sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun, Larisa reunited with her 10 Things co-star Joseph Gordon-Levitt. She played Alissa Strudwick, a girlfriend to Gordon-Levitt’s main character Tommy. While their relationship starts out sweet, and they date for quite a few episodes, it all ends in disaster thanks to the machinations of Harry (French Stewart) and Sally (Kristen Johnson). In the end, Alissa gets a restraining order against Tommy, and that’s the last she’s seen on the show.
What were your favorite roles of Larisa’s? Any we missed? Let us know in the comments!
- In 2013, Larisa was granted a restraining order against an obsessed fan who changed his last name to Oleynik and left gifts for her at her mother’s apartment.
- Larisa’s father is of Ukrainian ancestry, and she was raised in the Eastern Orthodox Church.
- In 1997, she made People magazine’s Most Beautiful list at age sixteen.
- Larisa is somewhat active on social media, with accounts on Instagram and Twitter — she mostly uses them to promote her work.
- During Alex Mack’s heyday, kids would approach Larisa and ask her to morph for them. Not wanting to ruin the illusion and tell them the truth that it wasn’t real, she would say, “Not here — everybody would see!”
- In 2013, Larisa was granted a restraining order against an obsessed fan who changed his last name to Oleynik and left gifts for her at her mother’s apartment.
- Larisa’s father is of Ukrainian ancestry, and she was raised in the Eastern Orthodox Church.
- In 1997, she made People magazine’s Most Beautiful list at age sixteen.
- Larisa is somewhat active on social media, with accounts on Instagram and Twitter — she mostly uses them to promote her work.
- During Alex Mack’s heyday, kids would approach Larisa and ask her to morph for them. Not wanting to ruin the illusion and tell them the truth that it wasn’t real, she would say, “Not here — everybody would see!”
