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 on her father's side and English, Scottish, and Scots-Irish ancestry on her mother's side. She was raised in her mother's Southern Baptist denomination.

Doherty had 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, 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's seeing her guest spot on Father Murphy, which he also produced. Doherty stayed in the series until the show's cancellation in 1983.

In 1982, Doherty lent her voice to the animated film The Secret of NIMH. In 1985, Doherty starred as Maggie Malene in the teen movie comedy Girls Just Want to Have Fun alongside actresses Helen Hunt and Sarah Jessica Parker.

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. ("A Sense of Debt"), followed by an early episode of Airwolf for which she was nominated as Best Young Actress: Guest in a Series at the 6th Youth in Film Awards in 1984. Doherty's first major motion picture role was in Heathers, released in 1989.

Career

Early work: 1990-2001

Doherty garnered worldwide attention and fame for her breakout role 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 the character at number 10 on their list of the 50 Most Wicked Women of Prime Time. Doherty left the show after 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.

Doherty's career afterward consisted primarily of made-for-TV movies, though she also had a lead role in Kevin Smith's 1995 film Mallrats - in one notable scene, Willam (Ethan Suplee) looks at her and asks "Brenda?" to which she shouts "Dick!" a joke repeated in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. In 1998, Spelling again cast her in another of his TV series, Charmed, in which she played lead character Prue Halliwell, the oldest of three sisters who are witches. Doherty also directed a few episodes for the series during the second and third seasons. Doherty left the show in 2001 at the end of the third season, resulting in her character's death. Reportedly, the reason for her departure was because of on-set and off-set tensions between Doherty and co-star Alyssa Milano. Doherty was also twice nominated, in 1999 and 2000, for the Saturn Award, Best Genre TV Actress, for her performance in Charmed. In 2007, AOL named Prue Halliwell the 10th greatest witch in television history.

Later work: 2002-present

In 2003, Doherty hosted the Sci Fi Channel candid camera show Scare Tactics during its initial season. 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 to 2005. Later in 2005, she was in the pilot for a comedy titled Love Inc..

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 owing to poor ratings. She also starred in the popular British sitcom Bo! in the USA, a brain child of 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.

During 2007, Doherty appeared in two television projects. She first appeared in Kiss Me Deadly: A Jacob Keane Assignment for the here! network and followed up with a starring role in the holiday film Christmas Caper for ABC Family. That same year Doherty also set up a production company called No Apologies for which she planned to develop a TV drama for herself. Later in 2007, Doherty was ranked 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.

Also in 2008, 14 years since her last television appearance as Brenda Walsh, Doherty joined the cast of the Beverly Hills, 90210 spin off for The CW 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. After her initial guest spot was completed, Doherty stated she was open to returning to the series later in the season and eventually agreed to appear in three additional episodes, with her most recent appearance airing in May 2009. 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.

In late 2008, Doherty was announced to co-star alongside Dylan McDermott in the indie film Burning Palms, a satire based on Los Angeles stereotypes told through five intertwining storylines. That same year, Doherty played a lead role in the SciFi Channel adventure film The Lost Treasure of the Grand Canyon. The film premiered on the cable network on December 20, 2008.

On March 1, 2010, it was announced that Doherty would be a celebrity contestant on Dancing with the Stars for the tenth season. The season premiered on Monday, March 22, 2010. Doherty was paired with two-time champion Mark Ballas in his sixth season on the show, but the pair was the first couple eliminated in the second week on March 30. The judges have said, "Doherty wouldn't have left if we would have just done scores". She wanted to do Dancing with the Stars to make her ailing father proud. Doherty returned for the finale.

Doherty starred in FEARnet's animated web series Mari-Kari, which launched on June 3, 2010. Mari and Kari are identical twins, but Kari is already dead and is a ghost. Doherty voiced both Mari and Kari in the eight-episode show. WE tv announced on July 21, 2011, that she would star in a one-hour reality series that follows her and her fiance, Kurt Iswarienko, as they plan their wedding. The show, titled Shannen Says, premiered in April 10, 2012. Later in 2012, Doherty became a spokesperson for Education Connection, and appeared in an episode of The New Normal as her character Brenda Walsh from Beverly Hills, 90210.

On July 24, 2014, it was announced that Doherty and her former Charmed co-star Holly Marie Combs would be starring in their own road trip reality show called Off the Map with Shannen & Holly, which premiered on Great American Country on January 2, 2015. The six-episode series follows the pair traveling across southeastern United States, with stops in Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida. Viewers were able to vote on activities Doherty and Combs would partake in at each destination on Great American Country's official website.

Personal life

In January 1993, California's United Bank took Doherty to court for $36,000 claiming she had bounced more than 70 checks. On October 11, 1993, Shannen Doherty was married to Ashley Hamilton, son of actor George Hamilton; they divorced in April 1994. In 2001, Doherty was sentenced to either 10 days in jail or 20 days of work-release duty and three years' probation and was ordered to pay a $1,500 fine for drunk driving. In 2002, Doherty married Rick Salomon, but the marriage was annulled after nine months. On October 15, 2011, Doherty married Kurt Iswarienko, a photographer, in Malibu.

Doherty has appeared nude in Playboy magazine. Her first appearance was in December 1993 followed by a spread in March 1994. She posed for the magazine again in December 2003 and has been featured in a 10-page pictorial.

Doherty is a registered Republican. According to Complex Magazine, she said: "I realize that the majority of people in the entertainment business happen to be Democrats. I have no problem with that. And they should have no problem with the fact that I'm a Republican."

Doherty announced in 1999 that she suffers from Crohn's disease. An avid animal rights activist, Doherty is a supporter of the Sea Shepherds, and while performing the Ice Bucket Challenge in 2014 she challenged founder Paul Watson and global supporters of Sea Shepherds.

Doherty was diagnosed with breast cancer in March 2015.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	The Secret of NIMH	Teresa Brisby	Voice role
1982	Night Shift	Bluebird
1985	Girls Just Want to Have Fun	Maggie Malene
1988	Heathers	Heather Duke
1994	Almost Dead	Katherine
1994	Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult	Herself	Cameo
1995	Mallrats	Rene Mosier
1997	Nowhere	Val-Chick 2	Cameo
1999	Striking Poses	Gage Sullivan
2001	Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back	Herself	Cameo
2010	Burning Palms	Dr. Shelly
2014	Back in the Day	Maria
2015	Undateable John	Charlene	In post-production
2015	How to Make a Deal with the Devil	The Devil	TBR
2016	Bukowski	Katharina Bukowski
2016	Mallrats 2	Rene Mosier	TBF

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1981	Father Murphy	Drusilla Shannon	Episodes: "By the Bear That Bit Me" (Parts 1 & 2)
1982	Phoenix, TheThe Phoenix	Little Girl	Episode: "One of Them"
1982	Voyagers!	Betty Parris	Episode: "Agents of Satan"
1982-83	Little House on the Prairie	Jenny Wilder	Series regular (18 episodes)
1983	Little House: Look Back to Yesterday	Jenny Wilder	Movie
1983	Magnum, P.I.	Ima Platt	Episode: "A Sense of Debt"
1984	Airwolf	Phoebe Danner	Episode: "Bite of the Jackal"
1984	Little House: Bless All The Dear Children	Jenny Wilder	Movie
1984	Little House: The Last Farewell	Jenny Wilder	Movie
1984	New Leave It to Beaver, TheThe New Leave It to Beaver	Laurie	Episode: "Steppin' Out"
1985	Highway to Heaven	Shelley Fowler	Episode: "The Secret"
1985	Robert Kennedy & His Times	Kathleen Kennedy	Miniseries
1985	Other Lover, TheThe Other Lover	Alison Fielding	Movie
1987	Alf Loves a Mystery	The Lady in Red	Movie
1986-88	Our House	Kris Witherspoon	Series regular (46 episodes)
1989	21 Jump Street	Janine	Episode: "Things We Said Today"
1990	Life Goes On	Ginny Green	Episode: "Corky's Crush"
1990-94	Beverly Hills, 90210	Brenda Walsh	Series regular (111 episodes)
1991	Forever Young	Party Girl	Movie
1992	Freeze Frame	Lindsay Scott	Movie
1992	Obsessed	Lorie Brindel	Movie
1994	Burning Passion: The Margaret Mitchell Story, AA Burning Passion: The Margaret Mitchell Story	Margaret Mitchell	Movie
1994	Blindfold: Acts of Obsession	Madeleine Dalton	Movie
1994	Jailbreakers	Angel Norton	Movie
1996	Gone in the Night	Cynthia "Cindi" Dowaliby	Movie
1997	Friends 'Til The End	Heather Romely	Movie
1997	Sleeping with the Devil	Rebecca Dubrovich	Movie
1997	Ticket, TheThe Ticket	CeeCee Reicker	Movie
2000	Satan's School for Girls	Beth Hammersmith/Karen Oxford	Movie
1998- 2001	Charmed	Prue Halliwell	Lead role (seasons 1-3; 66 episodes)
2001	Another Day	Kate	Movie
2002	Hell on Heels: The Battle of Mary Kay	Lexi Wilcox	Movie
2002	The Rendering	Sarah Reynolds	Movie
2003	View of Terror	Celeste Timmerman	Movie
2005	Category 7: The End of the World	Faith Clavell	Movie
2004-05	North Shore	Alexandra Hudson	11 episodes
2005	Love, Inc.	Denise Johnson	"Pilot"
2007	Christmas Caper	Kate Dove	Movie
2008	Kiss Me Deadly	Marta	Movie
2008	Lost Treasure of the Grand Canyon, TheThe Lost Treasure of the Grand Canyon	Susan Jordan	Movie
2008-09	90210	Brenda Walsh	Special guest star (Season 1); 8 episodes
2009	Encounter with Danger	Lori	Movie
2010	Growing the Big One	Emma Silver	Movie
2012	Witchslayer Gretl	Gretl	Movie
2012	The New Normal	Brenda Walsh	Episode: "The XY Factor"
2014	All I Want for Christmas	Brenda Patterson	Movie
2014	Blood Lake: Attack of the Killer Lampreys	Cate Parker	Movie

Reality television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003	Scare Tactics	Host	Season 1
2006	Breaking Up with Shannen Doherty	Host
2010	Dancing with the Stars	Competitor	Season 10; voted off in week 2
2011	Les Anges de la Télé Réalité 3 : I Love New York	Special Guest Star	NRJ 12 French reality series
2012	Shannen Says	Herself	WE tv reality series
2015	Off the Map with Shannen & Holly	Herself	Great American Country reality series

Web series

Year	Title	Role	Episode title/Notes
2010	Mari-Kari	Mari/Kari (voice)
2011	Suite 7	Adrianne	"Company"
2011	Suite 7	Series director	"Captive Audience"

Director

Year	Title / Band name	Episode / Song title	Episode number / Notes
2000	Charmed	"Be Careful What You Witch For"	Season 2, episode 22
2001	Charmed	"The Good, the Bad and the Cursed"	Season 3, episode 14
2001	Charmed	"All Hell Breaks Loose"	Season 3, episode 22
2012	Radical Something	"Naked in Venice"	Starring Holly Marie Combs

Producer

Year	Title	Notes
2001	Another Day	Co-executive producer
2006	Breaking Up with Shannen Doherty	Executive producer
2006	Better Off: Insecurity Check	Executive producer

Writer

Year	Title	Episode title	Notes
2006	Breaking Up with Shannen Doherty	"Dancing by Myself"	Creator
2006	Breaking Up with Shannen Doherty	"You Need My Helpline: Chemistry Test"	Creator
2010	Badass: A Hard-Earned Guide to Living Life with Style and (Right) Attitude		Author

Choreographer

Year	Title	Episode title	Episode number
2001	Charmed	"Coyote Piper"	Season 3, episode 9

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Title of work	Result	Ref.
1982	Youth In Film Awards	Best Young Actress in a Drama Series	Little House on the Prairie	Nominated
		Best Young Actress: Guest on a Series	Father Murphy	Nominated
1983		Best Young Actress in a Drama Series	Little House on the Prairie	Nominated
1984		Best Young Actress: Guest on a Series	Airwolf	Nominated
1986		Exceptional Performance by a Young Actress in a New Television Comedy or Drama Series	Our House	Nominated
1987		Best Young Actress Starring in a Television Drama Series		Nominated
1990		Best Young Actress Starring in a New Television Series	Beverly Hills, 90210	Nominated
1991		Best Young Actress Starring in a Television Series		Nominated
1999	Saturn Awards	Best Actress on Television	Charmed	Nominated
2000				Nominated
2001	Wand Awards	Best Fight (Alyssa Milano and Shannen Doherty)		Nominated
2007	AOL TV	Top TV Witches (Prue Halliwell)		9th
2008				10th

[ Source: Wikipedia ]