At the age of seven, her family moved up to Los Angeles, and both sisters began to show interest in acting, and would sometimes compete against each other for roles. As a matter of a fact, when Danica got the job as Winnie Cooper in The Wonder Years, directors had strongly considered giving the role of Winnie to Crystal instead before deciding on giving it to Danica. Crystal still ended up participating in the show, as Becky Slater, who , in what was perhaps an irony, became Winnies love rival.
Crystal loves to ski, and when she went to study at Yale, she was on their ski team. She was at Yale from 1996 to 1999 to study economics and she graduated as a Magna Cum Laude. While in Yale too, she was editor of a magazine named Portia.
She and co-star Josh Saviano dated for a little while.
She was a student of the Diane Hill Hardin Young Actors Space school, of which her sister Danica and Leonardo DiCaprio were also students.
She was nominated for the Best Young Actress Guest Starring In A Television Series award at the 11th annual Youth in Film Award in 1988 and 1989.
Her acting credits include: