She was born to an Egyptian father and American mother of Polish descent.
She has worked as a film director and screenwriter, and has also attracted interest from Julia Roberts' production company, American Girl Films, as well as Francis Ford Coppola.
[4] Alicia Erian's 2005 novel, Towelhead is a coming of age story about a thirteen-year-old girl named Jasira, who is sent from her Euro-American mother's home in Syracuse, New York to live with her Lebanese father in Houston, Texas.
Towelhead has been adapted into a film written and directed by Alan Ball, starring Summer Bishil, Aaron Eckhart, Toni Collette, Maria Bello, and Peter Macdissi.
In 2008, Alicia Erian wrote the screenplay for the short film Hammer and Anvil, which was developed at the Sundance Institute's 2008 January Screenwriters Lab.