By BILL BRIOUX
Toronto Sun

Alicia Silverstone never wore braces. Still, she remembers what it was like to be teased as a youngster.

"Everybody was mean to me in the seventh grade," says Silverstone, still best known as ditzy Cher, the "what-ever" teen from Clueless.

The 24-year-old actress was in Toronto this week to promote Braceface, a new Canadian animated series from Nelvana premiering Aug. 22 at 7 p.m. on Teletoon. She voices the main character, 13-year-old Sharon Spitz, who clings to her self-confidence despite the double whammy of braces and puberty.

Silverstone drove her classmates nuts by continually flipping her shoulder-length hair. It made her look like a snob, she was told. "I thought, okay, that's really psychotic. Four months later, they all had their hair exactly like mine."

Bottom line: Kids can be mean. What to do about it? For Silverstone, who isn't shy about throwing herself into causes, the answer was to produce a positive, esteem-boosting children's show.

Braceface is already a hit in the U.S. on The Fox Family Channel. As both lead voice and executive producer, Silverstone has been very hands-on, making sure that Spitz was rendered like a real 13-year-old. "No boobies," she says.

In voicing Spitz, she's had to guard against slipping into her old Cher character from Clueless. However, "it's pretty hard not to say 'what-EVER' when you are acting like a 13-year-old," she says.

After vaulting to stardom in Clueless, Silverstone's career cooled in such follow- up features as Excess Baggage (co-starring ex-squeeze Benicio Del Toro) and Blast From The Past. Even in the hit Batman & Robin, critics complained her Batgirl looked as if she was packing a few extra bat-pounds.

The San Francisco native looks svelte and healthy three years into a strict vegan regimen. She is passionate and outspoken on this issue, handing out pamphlets on animal abuse and cheerfully recommending restaurants in Toronto (where she recently shot the upcoming feature Global Heresy with Peter O'Toole) that cater to vegetarian diets.

"I don't get sick any more, all my allergies went away, my whole life changed," says Silverstone, who says she went into "physical shock" after viewing several documentaries on slaughterhouses. "I finally realized that there was a way to stop all of this and that was to not be a part of it. When I made that choice, I realized that I could stand up for my own beliefs."

Besides, it's cool to be vegan, says Silverstone. Woody Harrelson, who co-stars with Silverstone in the upcoming Scorched, is also a vegan, as is Moby, Chrissie Hynde and Prince. "All the cool musicians are vegan," she says.

Naturally, the issue comes up in Braceface when young Spitz inadvertently follows her crush, Alden, into a slaughterhouse. Just like her producer, the kid swears off meat.

"That episode pretty much sums up why I wanted to do the show," says Silverstone. "I wanted to effect social change."

Her dietary beliefs also ruffled feathers on the set of Global Heresy. Silverstone demanded changes to an outrageous scene involving Peter O'Toole and a chicken. I can't repeat what O'Toole was supposed to do to the hen but it rhymes with 'pluck.'

The new scene, Silverstone's idea, involves O'Toole, a dog and some peanut butter. Woof!

The actor, of course, was at his droll best when he was introduced to Silverstone on the set of the picture. In his best British accent, he extended his hand and said, "Are you the girl who took the scene out where I (pluck) the chicken?"