Clueless star Elisa Donovan looks very different 25 years later

Elisa Donovan portrayed mean girl Amber in the classic comedy Clueless, which was released back in 1995.

And the actress, now 49, made a rare appearance on Australian TV on Monday, speaking to The Morning Show about her memories of the iconic film.

The star looked as youthful as ever as she shared behind-the-scenes secrets about the movie, which also starred Alicia Silverstone, Paul Rudd and Stacey Dash.

When asked if anybody in particular had inspired her portrayal of spoiled rich girl Amber, Elisa said: ‘I have to admit I pretty much based that character on some girls I knew from high school, who weren’t very nice to me!

‘As soon as I read [the script] I was like, “I know exactly who this person is.'” 

Elisa then recalled the famous debate scene between Amber and Alicia Silverstone’s character, Cher, in which Amber dropped the now-famous ‘Whatever!’ catchphrase.

‘I think that was the first scene that we shot in the entire film. And it was certainly my first scene and it was the first day,’ she said. 

Elisa added that Alicia had unintentionally mispronounced the word ‘Haitians’, but the mistake was kept in the film because the director, Amy Heckerling, loved it.

‘That was not scripted; that was just something that she did,’ Elisa said. ‘And I remember looking at her in character like “of course” and I expected Amy to cut.

‘Then Amy was like back there, “This is amazing, we’re going to leave it in.” That is definitely what I remember a lot.’

Elisa said she knew at the time they were all working on a successful project, and remembers telling leading lady Alicia she was going to be a big star. 

She then spoke about her co-star Brittany Murphy’s death in 2009.  

‘It’s terribly sad. She was just one of these very magical kind of people,’ she said. 

‘She had such an energy about her that was really just young and creative. Kind of always like a humming bird is how I looked at her. She just was precious. It was terribly sad.’ 

At the height of her fame in the ’90s, Elisa also starred as Morgan Cavanaugh in Sabrina: The Teenage Witch, and as Ginger LaMonica in Beverly Hills, 90210.

The actress has a memoir coming out next spring called Wake Me When You Leave, which was written after her father died of cancer. 

‘It is about how losing him to cancer affected my life and career, and how I kind of went through the grief and recovered,’ she said. 

A film based on the book is also in development.