Shannen Maria Doherty (born April 12, 1971) is an American actress and television director. She gained initial stardom after starring as Heather Duke in the 1989 black comedy film Heathers. However, she is perhaps best known for her work in the Aaron Spelling produced television series Beverly Hills, 90210 as Brenda Walsh and Charmed as Prue Halliwell. Most recently, she returned to the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise, reprising her role of Brenda, in its third spinoff series, 90210.
Early life and career beginnings
Doherty was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the daughter of Rosa, a beauty parlor owner, and Tom Doherty, a mortgage consultant. Doherty has Irish Catholic ancestry, though was raised in her mother’s Southern Baptist religion. At the age of seven (in 1978) her family moved to Los Angeles, and she immediately announced that she wanted to be an actress.
In an interview in the December 2006 issue of Glamour, she said:
“When I was nine, my mother developed an excruciating headache and had to be hospitalized - 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!, Father Murphy and Airwolf starting in 1981. When a casting notice was released in Hollywood for a regular role on the popular Little House on the Prairie she leapt at the opportunity and eventually won the role of Jenny Wilder at the age of eleven, thanks in part to actor/producer Michael Landon seeing her guest spot on Father Murphy, which he also produced.
Television and film career
Early career
Doherty was cast as the oldest Witherspoon sibling, Kris, on the family drama Our House, which ran from 1986 to 1988. A role which garnered her several Young Artist Award nominations. 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 where she played Heather Duke. In 2006, the film was ranked #5 on Entertainment Weekly’s list of the 50 Best High School Movies.
Rise to fame and television stardom (1990 - 2001)
Doherty’s breakout role came when she was cast to star as Brenda Walsh in the Aaron Spelling-produced TV series Beverly Hills, 90210 in 1990. In 1991 and 1992 her portrayal of Brenda earned her a Young Artist Award nomination for Best Young Actress Starring in a Television Series. In 2004, E! placed Brenda at number ten on their list of the 50 Most Wicked Women of Prime Time. Following reported on-set friction, Doherty left the show at the end of the fourth season in 1994. Doherty’s character, Brenda, was written off the show as moving to London to attend school at the Royal Academy for Dramatic Arts.
While the character’s absence was originally described as only being for a year, she never actually returned, despite being mentioned from time to time during the show’s remaining seasons. She was replaced with former Saved by the Bell star Tiffani Thiessen, who played bad girl character Valerie Malone. 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, though, 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 lead character Prue Halliwell, the oldest of three sisters who discover they are witches, along with occasionally directing some of the episodes. At the end of the third season, Doherty left the show in 2001, resulting in her character’s death, and the introduction of Rose McGowan’s replacement lead character Paige Matthews. Reportedly, the reason for her departure was because of tensions between Doherty and co-star Alyssa Milano. Though she had left the show long before it ended, she continued to own five percent of the rights to the series.
Doherty was also twice nominated for the Saturn Award, Best Genre TV Actress for her portrayal of the character Prue, in 1999 and 2000 respectively. In 2007, AOL named Prue Halliwell the 9th greatest witch in television history.
Later career (2002 - present)
Two years after her departure from Charmed, Doherty hosted the Sci Fi Channel candid camera show Scare Tactics during its initial season. It is unsure why she left the show. Doherty’s hosting position was given to Stephen Baldwin for the season two cycle, however the series stopped production in 2006 after the second season’s end. After a three and a half year hiatus, the series returned in July 2008 with host Tracy Morgan. After her stint on Scare Tactics Doherty, in a return to her prime-time soap roots, starred as a regular on the short-lived TV series North Shore. She starred as Alexandra Hudson from 2004 - 2005. Later in 2005, Doherty was cast in the new TV comedy Love Inc. Although she filmed the original pilot, she was dropped from the show just months before its debut.
Doherty later went on to produce and star in her own reality show, Breaking Up With Shannen Doherty, which premiered on the Oxygen network in 2006. In the show Doherty goes around doing “dirty work” for members of the public, including dumping boyfriends or telling people what their friends really think about them. The show was canceled after one season due to a small audience. She also starred in the popular British sitcom Bo! in the USA, a program of brain child Leigh Francis. In the show, she plays herself, being randomly harassed by Avid Merrion (Francis) who claims they are lovers. The show aired in October 2006 on the British channel 4, and she appeared in several episodes.
In 2007, Doherty appeared in two television projects. First up was the pilot Kiss Me Deadly: A Jacob Keane Assignment for the here! network, and then the holiday picture Christmas Caper for ABC Family. That same year Doherty also set up a production company called “No Apologies” where she’s developing a TV-drama for herself. In 2007 Doherty was also ranked as number 96 on Entertainment Weekly’s list of the 100 Greatest Television Icons.
In 2008, Doherty was featured on the Swedish television show High Chaparall, appearing in the second episode of the show’s fourth season. Later that year, it was confirmed that Doherty would join the cast of the Beverly Hills, 90210 spin off for the CW Television Network, for a reported $40,000 - $50,000 an episode. She returned as a guest star, reprising her old role of Brenda Walsh in four of the new series’ initial six episodes. Her character, now a successful theater actress and stage director, returned as the guest director of the high school musical. The writers were eager to have her share scenes with Jennie Garth who also reprised her 90210 role of Kelly Taylor. It was reported that Doherty and Garth’s characters would both have a romantic interest in the character Ryan Matthews (Ryan Eggold), reminiscent of their old rivalry for former bad boy character Dylan McKay (Luke Perry). Doherty and Garth later confirmed that the reports about the love triangle between their characters were false. After her initial guest spot was completed, Doherty stated she was open to returning to the series later in the season and has recently agreed to appear in two additional episodes.
Doherty also has an upcoming role in the SciFi Channel’s adventure film, The Lost Treasure of the Grand Canyon as Susan Jordan opposite Michael Shanks and Bianca Owens. The film is currently in post-production and is set for a 2008/2009 premiere on the cable network. She is also in the process of pitching a new television show to networks.
Personal life
Doherty was married briefly to Ashley Hamilton, son of actor George Hamilton. She was also married to Rick Salomon, and was briefly engaged to actor Judd Nelson. She was once linked to her Charmed co-star, Julian McMahon. Doherty was once sentenced to either ten days in jail or twenty days of work-release duty, three years probation, and ordered to pay a $1,500 fine for drunk driving charges in 2001. She has appeared several times, nude, in Playboy magazine. Her first appearance was in December 1993, followed by a spread in March 1994. Later she posed for the magazine again in December 2003, and has been featured in a 10-page pictorial.
Doherty is a fan of the TV series 24, and on the show’s Season 4 DVD set, she provides audio commentary on “3:00 PM - 4:00 PM” with episode writer Evan Katz. As of date, she lives in Malibu, California. She also has a horse ranch in Ventura County, California and owns seven horses and two dogs.
