Shannen Doherty
Shannen Dohertywas born and raised in Memphis, Tennesse until her parents decided to move to LA when she was just seven
years old. Her father worked in a bank while her mother owned a beauty parlour.
Her big career break came when she was 11. She was spotted by Michael Landon (Little House on the Prairie) and cast as
Jenny Wilder in the Little House: A New Beginning. Shannen went on to star in Our House and Beverly Hills, 90210, in which
she played Brenda Walsh, teenage twin sister to Brandon Walsh (Jason Priestly), from 1990 to 1994.
Heathers was her first big screen break, starring opposite Christian Slater and Winona Ryder. She also starred in the hit
comedy Girls Just Want to Have Fun with Sarah Jessica Parker and Helen Hunt and later in Night Shift, and Mall Rats.
She also played Margaret Mitchell, the author of Gone with the Wind in A Burning Passion: The Margaret Mitchell Story,
which was followed by a part in Jailbreakers. She also worked on several mini series such as Gone in the Night Robert Kennedy
and His Times and TV programmes such as Sleeping with the Devil, The Ticket and Friends 'Til the End.
Shannen also snatched her five minutes of fame by posing for Playboy magazine in December 1993, and again in March 1994.
On a personal level, Shannen has managed to set tongues wagging with her tempestuous relationships and public bust-ups
with numerous boyfriends/fiances. The first public humiliation came with the break up of her engagement to Dean Factor in
1991 and him issuing a restraining order on her.
The next fiance was Judd Nelson (of The Breakfast Club fame), who she met on the set of Blindfold:Acts of Obsession. That
relationship fell apart too, but soon afterwards, she married Ashley Hamilton, son of perma-tanned actor George Hamilton,
just two weeks after meeting him in September 1993. The marriage only lasted 18 months and she now says she'd be glad to throw
him off a plane.
Shortly after the divorce, she was back in the headlines with rumours of cosmetic surgery.
In 1997 she was sentenced to anger-management counselling by the Beverly Hills Municipal court for an altercation with
22-year-old Corey Hanker during which she smashed a beer bottle on his car window.
On June 13th 2001, she was sentenced to 20 days work release duty and a $1500 fine for drunk driving. It is thought that
her community service will consist of a number of speeches to teenagers about the dangers of drinking and driving. She is
due back in court on September 10th to receive a progress hearing.
This follows rumours that she harassed a yogurt store manager when she found out the peanut butter flavour she wanted had
sold out.
She has been linked romantically with Dean Cain, Jason Priestly, Adam F Duritz (Counting Crows frontman) and, more recently,
engaged to director Rob Weiss, but after two years, that relationship came to an amicable end.
On May 11th 2001, her time with Aaron Spelling's Charmed came to an end. She had directed three of the last episodes she
had starred in. And although rumours are rife as to what the reason for the split was, she maintains it was time she moved
on and explored new opportunities. Seems her chance has come quickly too - she has been asked to co-produce with Francis Ford
Coppola, but only after she's had a well-deserved holiday.
