Daughter of Steven Tyler of the band Aerosmith and Bebe Buell, former model (and Playboy Playmate of the Month) and stalwart of the backstage rock scene of the 1970s, Liv grew up thinking that rock star Todd Rundgren was her father. But as she was growing up Tyler began dropping by to visit, and Liv noticed that his daughter Mia looked enough like her to be her twin. She confronted her mother, and was told the truth; by the time she was 12 she had taken her father's name. At 14 she and her mother left Portland, Maine for New York, where she got her start as a model. A year was enough of the modeling grind, and she decided to become an actress. She was offered the part of Callie in Heavy (1995) after a single reading, and only three weeks later was cast in Silent Fall (1994) - James Mangold, director of Heavy (1995), decided to delay shooting until Liv was available. With seven films in the 1993-96 period her career took off.