Child actor Shannen Doherty began her career, at the age of 11, living every little girl’s dream -- by playing a part on her favourite TV show. In Doherty’s case it was Little House On The Prairie (and Little House: Bless All The Dear Children) as Jenny Wilder for three seasons (1982 - 1984). She had previous guest appearances on Father Murphy (1981) and Cagney & Lacey (1982), and the Little House run was followed by further television guest shots. She was, as well, cast in the movies Night Shift (1982) and The Secret of NIMH (voice - 1982) during those years.

In 1985, the teen appeared in The Other Lover (TV), Girls Just Want To Have Fun, and Robert Kennedy and His Times (TV). Her single movie role in 1986 was in Outlaws, but it was then that she began as a regular in the TV series, Our House (1986 to 1988).

Small roles in Heathers (1989), 21 Jump Street (TV - 1989), and Life Goes On (TV - 1990), led to a break-through part, that of Brenda in the hit series, Beverly Hills 90210 (1990 - 1994). While a series regular, she fit it in the filming of Freeze Frame (TV - 1992), Obsessed (TV - 1992), Beverly Hills 90210: The Graduation (1993), Almost Dead (1994), Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994), Blindfold: Acts of Obsession (TV - 1994), Jailbreakers (TV - 1994), and A Burning Passion: The Margaret Mitchell Story (TV - 1994).

But it was during the 90210 years that her reputation as a Hollywood baddie began. There was a 1992 night club scuffle, the 1993/94 marriage to, and divorce from, actor Ashley Hamilton, a 1994 lawsuit launched by an ex-landlord, and accounts of drunken irresponsibility – all of which culminated in Doherty’s losing the TV series role due to, well, “conflicts with other cast members and late appearances on the set.”

Failing to appear for the first day of shooting of the movie Jailbreakers, nearly led to loss of that role as well. The “bad” times continues with a 1997 accusation that Doherty set her attack dogs on a neighbor, and a 1997 conviction for smashing a bottle against a car (the sentence was probation, a fine, and forced anger-management counseling).

In the midst of her off-camera notoriety, the actor filmed Mallrats (1995) and Gone In The Night (TV- 1996), but that year was dropped from People Magazine’s 400 Hottest Celebrities list. It didn’t hurt much. She went on to roles in Nowhere (1997), The Ticket (1997), Friends In The End (TV - 1997), Sleeping With The Devil (TV - 1997), and Striking Poses (1998).

In 1998 came Doherty’s biggest role to date -- that of Prue, the oldest of a trio of witch sisters in the popular TV series Charmed. It has led to another TV movie role, in Satan’s School for Girls (1999), and to the first award nomination for the hard-working, if infamous actor -- she was on the SciFi TV award short list for Best Actress in a TV series.

This year, Doherty is working to turn her reputation around, from “sullen troublemaker” to settled professional. She’s “no angel,” she says, but certainly her career path is now less rocky and obviously more Charmed.