Early Life
Witt was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. Her mother, Diane (née Pietro), is a junior high school reading teacher, and her father, Robert Witt, is a science teacher and photographer. She has a brother, Ian. A child prodigy, "Alicia, possibly started reading at the age of six-and-a-half, seven months". At two years, she was reading college text books. Witt was discovered by David Lynch when she appeared on the television show That's Incredible! in 1980 where she had recited Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. He cast her in the movie Dune (1984), where she played Paul Atreides' young sister Alia. She turned eight during filming. Afterwards, she left Hollywood to concentrate on her studies and music. She was home schooled by her parents. She won several national and international classical piano competitions, including the "Bartok-Kabalevsky International Piano Competition".
At age 14, Witt earned her high school diploma. Shortly thereafter, she moved to Hollywood with her mother to pursue a career as a full-time actress. In September 1990, she competed on Wheel of Fortune. Soon, Lynch, who she refers to as her mentor, created the role of Gersten Hayward especially for her in his successful series Twin Peaks. He cast her again in Blackout, a segment in his short-lived HBO series Hotel Room.
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“... goodness is of a modest nature, easily discouraged, and when much elbowed in early life by unabashed vices, is apt to retire into extreme privacy, so that it is more easily believed in by those who construct a selfish old gentleman theoretically, than by those who form the narrower judgments based on his personal acquaintance.”
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