What's Up, Alicia Goranson? The Love, Loss and What I Wore Star Talks Fashion and Growing Up on Roseanne

As Becky Conner, the eldest TV daughter to Roseanne Barr on her hit series, Roseanne, Alicia Goransan spent her formative years in front of a live TV audience. After five seasons Goranson decided to part ways with the show and made her way to college. She returned to the series intermittently through 1996, then found work off-Broadway in The Fourth Sister, Good Things and An Adult Evening of Shel Silverstein. Now Goranson has joined the November cast of Love, Loss and What I Wore. "It's such a sharing experience with the audience and we're all crazy about each other," the actress says of the atmosphere at the Westside Theatre. Broadway.com caught up with Goranson to talk about her own fashion choices and the life of a teenage TV star.

Tell us about your personal style.
I’m a big Ralph Lauren girl, but I love vintage clothing. I like the whole western jeans and boots style. I love vintage T-shirts and flannels, and there’s nothing like a great vintage sweatshirt. The materials are so sturdy and comfortable. I also love Japanese designers. There’s a line called 45 RPM that’s really beautiful. There’s something very simple about the clothing.

Do you have any clothing-related memories?
So many! When Roseanne first started ABC flew us out for the affiliate party, so I went to New York with my mother. They put us up at the Waldorf, just your normal 13 year-old experience [laughs]. We went to Bloomingdale's, and I saw a dress that I really wanted. My mom wouldn’t let me buy it and I was so upset that I stormed out and just got lost. I was 13 in New York and somehow made my way back to the hotel. That’s how I knew I was a New Yorker.

Do you ever go back and watch the show to check out your old wardrobe?
It’s always on so I’ll be flipping through the channels and see a glimpse of myself. It’s like a foreign reality to me because it seems so long ago. But yeah, I was definitely rocking some pretty wild mall clothes and hairdos. I’m a tomboy, but on the show my character was such a girly girl. I always had some pink item on. There was a while where I thought I was so not cool on the show, and at that age everything in your mind has to be so super cool, then one day while I was putting on these tight pink pants I thought, “Wait a second, this isn’t me, this is the character.” That was a big step in my acting life to realize there was something liberating and fun about getting into the head of somebody else.

You left the show to attend Vassar College in 1992 then returned only occasionally. Do you feel you made the right decision?
Absolutely. I’d have a lot more money now had I stayed, but I just knew that my soul needed to be a teenager, go to college, be with my peers and do something for my intellect. As much as I had a good [on-set] tutor I was just craving to learn. I went back because, well, I always say my friends in college were working at burger joints and I thought I’d be a fool to not do a summer job where I made a little more money than that. I also think I felt like I’d have a sense of resolution. It’s really jarring when you leave a family environment like that.

Did you know at the time you still wanted to be an actress?
I was an English major, not a drama major, but I did a lot of theater and I guess I can’t stop doing it. It’s really my passion. There was a period when I really had to ask myself, "What does acting mean to me?" I’m not someone who’s content being famous, with that whole lifestyle. I had to realize I could find a balance between what I like to do and what people think you’re "supposed" to do as an actress. A lot of people think you’re supposed to be on the red carpet and go to the parties and do a lot of PR, and that’s just not who I am. I’m more of a midwestern girl. I like punching in my time card and going with my steel lunch box.

Do you still keep in touch with your co-stars?
There was a 10-year stretch where I didn’t see anyone because I felt like I was avoiding that chapter of my life. It’s been nice in the last few years to reconnect with people and just have fond memories and reinvigorate some of those relationships.

Have you seen Sarah Gilbert’s new chat show, The Talk?
Well, I’m a huge Oprah fan so I go to the gym every day at 3 to be back in time for her show, but while I’m there I watch Dr. Oz. There’s nothing like watching Dr. Oz and working out at the same time, you feel like you’re the healthiest human being on the planet. I believe he’s on right after [Sarah's] show ends, so unfortunately I’m usually [running errands] before the gym. I’ll have to alter my schedule so I can catch a little bit of her show.