Little House on the Prairie NBC TV Cast Information
Shannen
Doherty was born in Memphis, Tennessee, USA, on April 12, 1971, to
parents Tom and Rosa. Her father worked in a bank while her mother
owned a beauty parlor. She has an older brother named Sean. In 1978
at the tender age of seven, she and her family moved to Los Angeles,
where her father started a West Coast branch of the family
transportation business. Shannen has always been close to her
family, who disciplined her from a young age. She knew she wanted to
pursue an acting career when she made her acting debut at age ten,
with a role on the series "Father Murphy" (1981).
Shannen was a confident student, involving herself in school
performances and working hard in school, by making sure she always
had exceptional grades. Despite her confidence, she isolated herself
from large crowds and preferred to have a few close friends. She
made a name for herself as a child actress at just 11-years-old,
starring in "Little House on the Prairie" (1974) as Jenny Wilder. It
was Michael Landon who noticed her performance in an episode of
"Father Murphy" (1981), that he decided to cast her. She then went
on to appear in "Our House" (1986) with Deidre Hall and Wilford
Brimley. She also starred alongside Sarah Jessica Parker and Helen
Hunt in Girls Just Want to Have Fun (1985) and then in Heathers
(1988), a teen comedy also starring Winona Ryder.
In 1990, at the age of 19, when she was cast in Aaron Spelling's
long-running hit series, "Beverly Hills, 90210" (1990) as Brenda
Walsh, the twin sister of Brandon Walsh, played by Jason Priestley.
She attracted media attention from the press and eventually made her
a household name. The success of the popular teen drama appealed to
young teenage girls who could relate to her character, Brenda Walsh.
After four years, she left the show in 1994. Afterward, she
continued her work in movies, starring in the thriller Almost Dead
(1994) and the comedy Mallrats (1995).
During the fall of 1998, she reunited with long-time producer Aaron
Spelling, when she was cast as Prue Halliwell on "Charmed" (1998), a
show about three ordinary women who happen to be witches. She
starred alongside Alyssa Milano and Holly Marie Combs. After three
years, she left the show to find work in movies. Before her
departure from the show, she had directed three of the last episodes
in which she starred. She continued her work in movies by starring
in Another Day (2001) (TV), The Rendering (2002), Hell on Heels: The
Battle of Mary Kay (2002) (TV), and Nightlight (2003) (TV). In 2003,
she hosted season one of "Scare Tactics" (2003) as well as season
two with only 8 episodes, and then left to pursue other endeavors.
In the fall of 2004, Shannen made her return to television on Fox's
drama series "North Shore" (2004), where she played Alexandra
Hudson, the long-lost sister of Nicole Booth, played by Brooke
Burns. Eventually the show was canceled after one season. Then in
2005, she landed the role of Denise Johnson on the UPN series "Love,
Inc." (2005), however after the pilot episode she was dropped from
the sitcom. From there she has ventured into new projects and in
2006, she starred in her own reality series, "Breaking Up with
Shannen Doherty" (2006).
