A performer since the age of seven, teen actress Marla Sokoloff joined the cast of the well-received ABC legal drama “The Practice” in the fall of 1998, playing the law firm’s secretary. The petite light brown-haired player began her career on stage in her native San Francisco before heading south to pursue a full-time career. Her first break came when she was cast at age 12 in the feature “Ingrid” which was not released for some five years.
In the meantime, Sokoloff had become an almost constant presence on the small screen in recurring roles on the ABC sitcom “Full House", as a nemesis to Jodie Sweeten’s Stephanie, and the Fox drama “Party of Five", as a bad influence on Lacey Chabert’s Claudia. In addition to other guest appearances on shows like “Step By Step” and “Full House", she also appeared in a handful of films, most notably “The Baby-Sitters Club” (1995) and “True Crime” (1996), alongside Alicia Silverstone.
As Sokoloff continued her role on “The Practice” she also continued to score movie roles. Most notably, she stared with her real life boyfriend James Franco in the teen comedy “Whatever It Takes” (2000) and played a bitter cheerleader turned hero in 2001’s “Sugar & Spice.” In 2002, Sokoloff was also set to star with fellow young actors Eliza Dushku and Brandon Sexton in “Whatever It Takes” (lensed 2002).