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....
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