Often cast in vampy roles that make good use of her physical
assets and strong personality, ROSE McGOWAN has made an
undeniably distinct impression on Hollywood in the late 1990s.
The child of hippies, McGowan was born September 5, 1974 in
Florence, Italy to a French mother and Irish father. As the
second oldest of six children, McGowan was raised on an Italian
commune run by the Children of God cult. Her family relocated to
Oregon when McGowan was ten, and she left the commune at
fifteen.
After leaving the commune, McGowan supported herself with a
variety of odd jobs and even lived on the streets for awhile
before traveling to Los Angeles to attend an arts school. It was
there that she was discovered by director Gregg Araki, whom, as
fate would have it, encountered her outside of a gym. Araki was
busy casting his Sundance entry, "The Doom Generation," and gave
her the role of Amy Blue, the film's beautiful, spoiled and
morally ambiguous protagonist. Her performance earned her a
nomination for Best Debut Performance at the 1996 Independent
Spirit Awards.
Prior to "The Doom Generation," McGowan had only appeared as a
minor character in 1992's "Encino Man," making her casting in
Araki's film all the more fortuitous. McGowan followed "The
Doom Generation" with the 1996 low-budget thriller "Kiss and
Tell." Later in '96, McGowan ventured to more mainstream films,
starring in what would become her most recognizable film role
to date. She portrayed Tatum, Sidney Prescott's (Neve Campbell)
doomed bestfriend who has an unfortunate encounter with a
garage door, in Wes Craven's horror hit
"Scream."
In 1997, McGowan held the distinction of starring in four films
which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival: the coming-of-age
film "Going All The Way," which won her particular praise,
"Lewis & Clark & George," in which she played a mute femme
fatale who hooks up with two escaped cons, Gregg Araki’s
"Nowhere," playing a Valley girl who is vaporized by a space
alien and the short film "Seed," as a hooker molested by her
own mother.
In 1998, McGowan appeared with Ben Affleck and Peter O’Toole in
the thriller "Phantoms" and starred in the independent film
"Southie," winner of Best Picture at the Seattle Film Festival.
A year later, McGowan portrayed the bitchy leader of a high
school clicque in "Jawbreaker," a film about three high school
girls who accidentally kill their classmate. In 2000, she
played love interest to "Scream" co-star David Arquette in the
critical and box-office flop
"Ready to
Rumble," a comedy about two men obsessed with wrestling.
McGowan also had a villainous turn in the little-seen "The
Last Stop."
McGowan was recently seen in Brendan Fraser's unsuccessful
comedy "Monkeybone" and will next star in "Rat in the Can."
McGowan's television work includes the 1997 made-for-television
movie "Devil in the Flesh." She joined the WB's hit series
"Charmed" on its fourth season, replacing Shannen Doherty. The
show tells the story of three sisters who find out that they
are witches. McGowan plays Paige Matthews, Piper (Holly Marie
Combs) and Phoebe Halliwell's (Alyssa Milano) younger
half-sister.
![[Rose McGowan]](rose.jpg)
