Biography

Shannen was born in Memphis, Tennessee on April 12, 1971, which makes her an Arien. Her father worked in a bank while her mother owned a beauty parlour. In 1978 the young Shannen (who was only seven at the time) and her family moved to Los Angeles, where her father started a West Coast branch of the family transportation business. Shannen has always been close to her family, who disciplined her from a young age. Her Mother, Rosa Doherty, once washed Shannen's mouth out with soap because she swore. Her Father's name is Tom and she has a big brother called Sean, who is five years older than her. She knew she wanted to pursue an acting career at the tender age of seven. Things moved quickly, and she made her debut at age 10, with a role on the series 'Father Murphy'.

Shannen was a confident student, involving herself in school performances and trying hard at class work, making sure she always had exceptional grades. Despite her confidence, she kept herself to herself and preferred to be alone rather than be with large groups of people. "I had more fun playing by myself than with anybody else," she says. "I guess I was born that way. But at the same time, I was outgoing. I did all these plays, and when I was in Tennessee, I was active in the church. But I never really had sleepovers. I always wanted my time away from others."

She cracked into the entertainment world aged just 11 years, starring in 'Little House: A New Beginning' as Jenny Wilder. "I used to watch Little House on the Prairie. And I wanted to work with Michael Landon really desperately." This was the dream of many young girls, but Shannen had the incredible determination and good fortune to actually end up on Little House. It was Michael Landon who noticed her performance in an episode of Father Murphy, when he decided to cast her. She then went on to appear in 'Our House' with Deidre Hall and Wilford Brimley. She starred alongside Sarah Jessica Parker in 'Girls Just Want To Have Fun' and then in 'Heathers', a black comedy which Winona Rider also starred in.

Shannens real success came in 1990, at the age of 19 she scored a part on Beverly Hills 90210 as the character Brenda Walsh, who was a teenage twin sister to Brandon Walsh (Jason Priestly). She Attracted a lot of attention from the press and eventually got a celebrity status. It was a very successful popular teen drama and teenage girls everywhere related to Brenda Walsh, Shannen Doherty's character.

1994 - Shannen leaves Beverly Hills 90210, and her claim to fame. She wants more privacy and stays out of the public eye for a while. She worked on 'MallRats' and 'Almost Dead' to keep her acting career alive.

She slowly did her celebrity status justice again, appearing in 'Gone In The Night', 'Robert Kennedy & His Times', 'Sleeping With The Devil', 'The Ticket' and the much loved 'Friends Til The End'

In 1998, she was offered the part of Prue Halliwell on Charmed, a show about three witches who protect the innocent. She starred alongside Alyssa Milano and Holly Marie Combs (her best friend). After just three seasons, she leaves to work on other projects, such as movies. She had directed three of the last episodes she had starred in. She has already been in three movies since leaving Charmed, which are 'The Rendering' (AKA: 'Portrait of Murder') 'Another Day' 'The Battle of Mary Kay' and 'Night Light' (AKA: 'View of Terror'). She also hosted season one of 'Scare Tactics' and eight episodes of season two but had to leave so she could work on her own show. Her new show is called 'Breaking Up With Shannen Doherty'. As well as being in the show, she is also producing it. She is also working on another new project, where she will be just producing. She is very interested in working behind the scenes.

Shannen has dated many guys in the past. A few of her ex's include, Dean Factor - (owns photo studio; met in 1990; briefly engaged; separated 1991), Chris Foufas - (real-estate developer; couple exchanged commitment rings 1991; separated 1992). She married Ashley Hamilton - (son of perma-tanned actor George Hamilton) in September 24, 1993, but they got divorced five months later because she felt they weren't right for each other and they married within 2 weeks of meeting. Judd Nelson - (actor; together 1994; met on the set of Blindfold), Rob Weiss(actor, director; met in 1994; announced engagement December 1995; reportedly separated April 1996). Richard solomon - (who is a producer) and Shannen got married in secret in Las Vegas on January 24th 2002, in front of family and friends. They were married for nine months, but their union was annulled in late 2003, but remain good friends.