Shannen Maria Doherty (born April 12, 1971) is an American actress and television director, perhaps best known for her work as Heather Duke in Heathers, as Brenda Walsh in Beverly Hills, 90210 and as Prue Halliwell in Charmed.


Shannen Doherty was born on April 12, 1971 in Memphis, Tennessee to Tom, a bank worker, and Rosa, a beautician. Shannen has Irish Catholic ancestry, though was raised in her mother`s Southern Baptist religion. In 1978, when Shannen was only 7, the Doherty family moved to Los Angeles and Shannen immediately announced her dreams to become an actress. In an interview in the December 2006 issue of Glamour Magazine Shannen said:

"When I was nine, my mother developed an excruciating headache and had to be hospitalised - she was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm. She came through it but the experience was terrifying. The following year my father had a massive stroke. In a single year I nearly lost both my parents. I felt my classmates couldn`t relate to what I was going through, so I closed myself off."


Success began early, with guest spots on TV series including Voyagers and Father Murphy. When a casting notice was released in Hollywood for a regular role on the popular Little House on the Prairie Shannen leapt at the opportunity and eventually won the role of Jenny Wilder at just 11 years old, thanks in part to actor Michael Landon seeing Shannen`s guest spot on Father Murphy.

She was cast as the oldest Witherspoon sibling, Kris, on the family drama Our House, which ran from 1986 to 1988. She then went on to appear in an episode of Magnum, P.I. Doherty`s first major motion picture role was in Heathers, released in 1989. She went on to star in the Aaron Spelling-produced TV series Beverly Hills 90210 for four years, from 1990 to 1994. Her departure from the series was reportedly acrimonious, however, and her career afterward was somewhat spotty, marked for the most part by made-for-TV movies. There were a few bright spots, however, particularly a lead role in Kevin Smith`s 1995 film Mallrats.

In 1998, Spelling cast her in another TV series, Charmed, in which she played Prue Halliwell, the oldest sister of a coven of witches, along with occasionally directing some of the episodes. She left that series in 2001, after three years. Rumors persist that her departure was against her will, due to a feud with co-star Alyssa Milano. Though she had left the show long before it ended, she owns 5% of the rights to the series.[citation needed] Doherty was going to go for the role as Piper Halliwell but she got cast as Prue and her best friend at the time, Holly Marie Combs got the role as Piper. She hosted Scare Tactics on the Sci Fi channel until the 2004 season. She was a former regular on the failed TV series North Shore, a return to her prime-time soap roots.

In 2005, Doherty was cast in the new TV comedy Love Inc. but was dropped from the show just months before the debut in fall because of a personality clash with fellow cast members.[citation needed] Doherty now starring in her own show, Breaking Up With Shannen Doherty on the Oxygen network. In the show she goes around doing "dirty work" for members of the public, including dumping boyfriends or telling people what their friends really think about them.

She recently starred in the popular British sitcom Bo! in the USA a program of brain child Leigh Francis. In the show she plays the role of herself being randomly harasse

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