Before Clueless made Elisa Donovan instantly recognizable as Amber, she was convinced another major 1995 movie was about to change her career.
Donovan was in the running to play Nomi Malone in Showgirls, the lead role that ultimately went to Elizabeth Berkley. She auditioned while living in New York, met director Paul Verhoeven and continued through additional auditions after moving to Los Angeles.
The process included a dance audition, and Donovan believed she was closing in on the part. “I really felt like, ‘Holy cow, I am getting this movie,’” she recalled on the Still Here Hollywood podcast.
She didn’t get it. Donovan, now 55, said she was “devastated,” and the rejection became one of several early-career experiences that forced her to consider whether she wanted to keep pursuing acting.
She Had Made It Deep Into the ‘Showgirls’ Audition Process
Donovan remembered the Showgirls team responding enthusiastically to her when she first auditioned in New York. At the time, she was still a relatively unknown performer and was preparing to relocate to Los Angeles.
Once in California, she continued auditioning for the film and completed the dance portion of the process. Elizabeth Berkley, then best known for playing Jessie Spano on Saved by the Bell, ultimately landed Nomi instead.
Donovan told host Steve Kmetko that acting periodically brought her to moments when she had to decide whether to continue or “pivot” into something else. PEOPLE reported that she still describes Showgirls as the role she wanted most but did not get.
Another Crushing Rejection Led to a Call Home
Donovan connected the Showgirls experience to an earlier audition for Eric Bogosian’s play SubUrbia. She said she had been called back repeatedly for the production at Lincoln Center and became convinced that landing it would change everything for her.
The role instead went to Martha Plimpton. Donovan recalled returning home on the subway before receiving a call from her agent telling her she had not gotten the job.
“I was devastated, crying,” Donovan said. She called her mother, who suggested that she leave New York for a while and come home to Long Island.
Donovan considered the idea but realized returning home was not what she wanted. She decided that despite the rejection, she still wanted an acting career and would continue pursuing it.
‘Clueless’ Soon Gave Her the Breakthrough She Had Been Chasing
Donovan’s eventual breakthrough arrived with a different 1995 movie. She landed the role of Amber Mariens in Amy Heckerling’s Clueless, playing Cher Horowitz’s stylish and combative classmate opposite Alicia Silverstone.
That opportunity had its own demanding audition process. Donovan previously told Us Weekly that she read for the film roughly four or five times before her final audition at Paramount, where she met with Heckerling and producer Scott Rudin.
She remembered being intensely nervous and leaving unsure of how she had performed. Donovan then received the call that she had landed Amber while she was preparing to fly home to visit her family.
The role continued beyond the movie. Donovan reprised Amber in the Clueless television series, which premiered the following year and ran for three seasons.
She Has ‘Mixed Feelings’ About Missing Out on Nomi Malone
Three decades later, Donovan no longer views losing Showgirls entirely through the disappointment she felt at the time. She introduced the story on the podcast by calling it the role she wanted most but later developed “very mixed feelings” about not getting.
Showgirls was heavily criticized following its 1995 release, and Berkley’s performance became a particular target. The film subsequently developed a cult following, changing the way it and Berkley’s work have been discussed over the years.
Donovan’s own path that year gave her a character that remained attached to her career for decades. In a recent retrospective on Clueless, she recalled creating Amber partly from the personalities of girls she had known growing up and said she had no idea while making the film that it would become so enduring.