Rose McGowan was born on September 5, 1973 to Irish-American parents. She grew up in Europe and appeared in Italian magazines as a child. In 1979, her family moved to the United States and her parents divorced. She was educated at Roosevelt High School and Nova Alternative High School and at an early age, really wanted to be an actress. Her first film appearance was in Encino Man and The Doom Generation where she got the attention of film critics. In 1996 she was cast for a role in the hit horror film Scream. She appeared in a variety of independent films afterwards, and had roles in Southie, Lewis & Clark & George, and Going All the Way. She was also cast in the 1997 short Seed, which was critically acclaimed. In 1999 she earned an award for Best Villain at the MTV Movie Awards, for her performance in the comedy Jawbreaker. In 2001 she was cast as Paige Matthews in the popular WB television series Charmed, as a replacement of a lead character after Shannen Doherty's departure from the show. Her character is the youngest daughter of Patty Haliwell with Whitelighter Sam Wilder. Paige was not known to Victor or his three daughters with Patty because she was left with Sister Agnes as a baby at a local church, fearing repercussions if the forbidden affair between a witch and a Whitelighter was ever discovered. She is later linked to the Charmed Ones when they discover that Paige is their half-sister.

When the series ended in 2006, Rose McGowan portrayed the actress/singer Ann-Margaret in the CBS miniseries Elvis. She was next cast in a supporting role in the acclaimed Brian De Palma film, The Black Dahlia. She was also in the double-feature Grindhouse by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. McGowan has also been the co-host of the TCM film-series program The Essentials, alongside Robert Osborn.


(Photo courtesy of Mickaloha.com)