Early life
Doherty was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the daughter of Rosa, a beauty parlor owner, and Tom Doherty, a mortgage consultant. She has an older brother (by four years) named Sean. Doherty has Irish ancestry with Catholic roots, though she 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.[citation needed] She speaks French and Spanish.[citation needed]
Career Early beginnings
Shannen had 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 jumped at the opportunity and eventually won the role of Jenny Wilder at the age of 11, thanks in part to actor/producer Michael Landon seeing her guest spot on Father Murphy,[citation needed] which he also produced. Doherty stayed in the series until the show's cancellation in 1983.
In 1985, Doherty starred as Maggie Malene in teen-comedy movie, Girls Just Want To Have Fun, alongside actresses Helen Hunt and Sarah Jessica Parker.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed] She then went on to appear in an episode of Magnum, P.I., followed by an episode of Airwolf. Doherty's first major motion picture role was in Heathers, released in 1989. In 2006, the film was ranked #5 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 50 Best High School Movies.
Television stardom (1990–2001)
Doherty with Jason Priestley at the Governor's Ball following the 43rd Annual Emmy Awards, August 1991
Doherty's breakout role was 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.[1] In 2004, E! placed the character at number ten on their list of the 50 Most Wicked Women of Prime Time.[2] Doherty departed the show at the end of the fourth season in 1994. Her character 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 to the original series despite being mentioned from time to time during the show's remaining seasons (although she would reprise the role of Brenda later in the The CW's updated version of the show in 2008). She was replaced with former Saved by the Bell star Tiffani Thiessen, who played Valerie Malone. Her career afterward was somewhat spotty, marked for the most part by made-for-TV movies, though she also had 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. Doherty also directed a few episodes for the series during season 2 and 3. 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 character Paige Matthews. Reportedly, the reason for her departure was because of tensions between Doherty and co-star Alyssa Milano.[3] Though she had left the show long before it ended, she continued to own five percent of the rights to the series.[citation needed]
Doherty was also twice nominated for the Saturn Award, Best Genre TV Actress for her performance in Charmed, in 1999 and 2000 respectively.[4] In 2007, AOL named Prue Halliwell the 10th greatest witch in television history.[5]
Later career (2002–2008)
File:Brenda in 90210.jpg
Shannen Doherty in the TV series 90210
In 2003, Doherty hosted the Sci Fi Channel candid camera show Scare Tactics during its initial season.[6] 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 television debut.[citation needed]
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 poor ratings. She also starred in the popular British sitcom Bo! in the USA, a brain child of Leigh Francis.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]
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 film Christmas Caper for ABC Family. That same year Doherty also set up a production company called "No Apologies" in which she developed a TV drama for herself. In 2007, Doherty was 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.[citation needed]
After 14 years since her last television appearance as Brenda Walsh, it was confirmed in June 2008 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.[7] 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. After her initial guest spot was completed, Doherty stated she was open to returning to the series later in the season[8] and eventually agreed to appear in three additional episodes with her most recent appearance airing in May 2009.[9]HYPERLINK \l "cite_note-People-9"[10]
The writers were eager to have her share scenes with Jennie Garth, who also reprised her 90210 role of Kelly Taylor.[11] It was reported that Doherty and Garth's characters would both have a romantic interest in the character Ryan Matthews (Ryan Eggold),[12] 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.[13]
Doherty was featured in a lead 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 premiered on the cable network on December 20, 2008.[citation needed]
Recent projects (since 2009)
Doherty has been in the process of pitching a new television show to networks.[8] On October 30, 2008, TV Guide reported that Doherty is due to co-star alongside Dylan McDermott in the indie film Burning Palms, a satire based on Los Angeles stereotypes told through five intertwining storylines.[14] She will also be starring in the upcoming TV movie thriller Encounter with Danger with Mark Humphrey.[citation needed]
Doherty announced she's currently writing a book though 'it's not an autobiography' but it contains some of her life experiences. She is bringing her life story of child stardom, teenage angst, and historic temper tantrums to the shelves of your favorite bookseller. She has teamed up with Random House Books to pull the lid back on her life in Tinseltown on the pages of a new self-help book adeptly-titled "Badass: A Hard-Earned Guide to Living Life with Style and (the Right) Attitude."[citation needed]
On March 1, 2010, it was announced that Doherty will be a celebrity contestant on Dancing with the Stars for the tenth season. The season premiere was on Monday, March 22, 2010.[15] Doherty was paired with two-time champion Mark Ballas in his 6th season on the show, but the pair was the first couple eliminated in the second week on March 30.[16] She wanted to do Dancing with the Stars to make her ailing father proud.[17] Doherty returned for the finale.[citation needed]
Doherty stars in FEARnet's animated web series "Mari-Kari", which launched on June 3, 2010.[18] Mari and Kari are identical twins, but Kari is a ghost. Doherty voices both Mari and Kari in this 8-episode show.[19]
Personal life
Doherty was married for five months to Ashley Hamilton, son of actor George Hamilton, until she filed for divorce in 1994. Her nine-month marriage to Rick Salomon was annulled in 2003.
In 2001, Doherty was sentenced to either ten days in jail or twenty days of work-release duty, three years probation, and was ordered to pay a $1,500 fine for drunk driving charges.[20]
She has appeared several times, nude, in Playboy magazine.[20] Her first appearance was in December 1993, followed by a spread in March 1994.[21] She posed for the magazine again in December 2003, and has been featured in a 10-page pictorial.[22]HYPERLINK \l "cite_note-22"[23]
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.[20] She currently lives in Malibu, California, and has a horse ranch in Ventura County, California; she owns seven horses and two dogs.[20]
Doherty is a registered Republican.[24
