Celebrity Heights: Shannen Doherty

Profile: Shannen Doherty

Born April 12, 1971 in Memphis, Tennessee, Shannen is a celebrity TV preformer and screen actress. When Shannen was seven, the family moved to Los Angeles, where her father started a West Coast branch of the family transportation business, and Shannen became interested in acting. Shannen, always participated in school plays and earned good grades, but she was also a very solitary child. She prefered being by herself rather than playing with other children. Her first professional role was as Drusilla when she guest starred on "Father Murphy". When Shannen was just 11 years old, Micheal Landon discovered her after viewing this episode and cast her as Jenny Wilder in his series "Little House, A New Beginning". Shannen then went on to star in the series "Our House'' with Wilford Brimley and Deidre Hall. Moving effortlessly between television and film, Shannen starred in the teen comedy ''Girls Just Want to Have Fun'' with Helen Hunt and Sarah Jessica Parker. In 1989, Shannen starred with Christian Slater and Winona Ryder in the 1989 black comedy ''Heathers", which was a big success. In 1990, Shannen got the part of Brenda Walsh in Aaron Spelling's teen drama, "Beverly Hills, 90210". As 90210 and Shannen became more popular, Shannen's personal life began to spin out of control. Her every move was printed in the tabloids, and it was usually very exaggerated. After 4 years on 90210, she decided to leave the show, but the tabloids claimed that she was fired. It was later learned that it was a mutual decision between Shannen and Aaron Spelling. After leaving " 90210", Shannen kept a low personal profile but kept on working on other projects such as "Almost Dead", and ''Mall Rats". Shannen also won rave reviews for her performance in the famous ''Gone With the Wind'' and the television movie ''A Burning Passion, The Margaret Mitchell Story". She starred opposite Antonio Sabato Jr. in the Showtime original film ''Jailbreakers". She also starred in the miniseries ''Gone in the Night'' and ''Robert Kennedy and His Times", as well as the TV movies ''Sleeping with the Devil", ''The Ticket'' and ''Friends 'Til the End". In 1998, Shannen played Prue Halliwell in Aaron Spelling's new television show "Charmed", with newcomers Lori Rom and Holly Marie Combs. Lori Rom, who was originally cast as Phoebe Halliwell, quit the show at last minute, and "Melrose Place" star Alyssa Milano, was cast in her place. Tabloids stated that Shannen and Lori were bitter enemies, but both deny the rumours.