Guide Note

Shannen Doherty is an American television and film actress. While Doherty's on-screen debut was the character of Jenny Wilder on the popular series Little House on the Prairie, it was her role as Brenda Walsh on the popular teen series Beverly Hills 90210 that gained her celebrity notoriety.

Fast Facts

1. Born: April 12, 1971
2. Birth place: Memphis, Tennessee
3. Was married to: Ashley Hamilton and Rick Salomon
4. Directed a few episodes of Charmed
5. Posed in Playboy in 2003
6. Hosted: Scare Tactics and Breaking up with Shannan Doherty
7. Suffers from Crohn's Disease

Early Life

The daughter of a hair salon owner and a mortgage consultant, Doherty was raised Southern Baptist in Memphis. At the age of seven she moved to Los Angeles with her family and decided she wanted to become an actress. As a little girl she guest starred on several shows such as Voyagers and Father Murphy and at the age of eleven landed her first series regular role on Little House on the Prairie.

Bad Girl Image

In the mid 1990s Doherty's career popularity grew as well as her appearances in tabloids. Doherty was sentenced to anger-management councseling in 1996 when she broke a beer bottle on the car of Corey Hanker, was taken off Beverly Hills 90210 in 1994 after rumored conflicts with cast members, and in 2001 was charged with a DUI. It has been rumored that Doherty beat up previous boyfriend Dean Factor, and had extremely short marriages to Ashley Hamilton and Rick Salomon.

Quotes

In a December 2006 Glamour Magazine interview Doherty 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."