Between movies and television, Marla Sokoloff established herself as a prominent teen actress in the late '90s. Raised in San Francisco, Sokoloff moved to Los Angeles in 1994. While studying theater and music at the Los Angeles County High School of the Arts, she played guest-starring roles on such youth-friendly TV series as Fox's Party of Five and The WB's 7th Heaven, and appeared in the Alicia Silverstone thriller True Crime (not to be mistaken for the 1999 Clint Eastwood vehicle) and the girl-bonding movie The Babysitter's Club (1995). Though she had a small part in the French-New Zealand adventure story The Climb (1997), Sokoloff opted to stick with Hollywood. After joining the cast of ABC's much lauded David E. Kelley series The Practice in 1998 as Lucy, a receptionist with attitude, she soon began landing starring roles in teen comedies. The pretty object of various bumbling affections in the adolescent Cyrano de Bergerac retread Whatever It Takes (2000) and the stoner comedy Dude, Where's My Car? (2000), Sokoloff was poised to take center stage in the cheerleader-turned-bank robber romp Sugar & Spice (2001).