Rose McGowan

Rose McGowan
At the premiere of Grindhouse in Austin, Texas, March 2007. Photo by Jeff Balke.
Born	Rose Arianna McGowan

Rose Arianna McGowan (born September 5 1973) is an American actress best known for her role as Paige Matthews in The WB TV series Charmed, and the cult-classic The Doom Generation. She has also appeared in several major Hollywood films, with leading roles in Scream, Jawbreaker, and the Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez double-feature Grindhouse. McGowan is currently the co-host of TCM's film-series program, The Essentials.

Biography

Early life

McGowan, the second-eldest of six children (plus two half-siblings), was born in Florence, Italy, the daughter of Terri, a French-American writer, and Daniel McGowan, an Irish-born American artist. Daniel McGowan ran an Italian chapter of the Children of God to which both he and his wife held membership until 1978. McGowan spent her early childhood amid the group's communes, often traveling Europe with her parents. Through her father's art contacts in Italy, McGowan became a child model and appeared in Vogue Bambini and various other Italian magazines. Her parents returned to the United States when she was 10, when they divorced. She subsequently relocated to Oregon and then Gig Harbor, Washington, where she also met childhood friend actor Rey-Phillip Santos. McGowan did not speak English until she moved to the U.S.

McGowan's formative years were spent with her father in Seattle, Washington, attending Roosevelt High School and Nova Alternative High School. At the age of 15, she officially emancipated herself from her parents. McGowan pursued a possible career in the film industry during her late teens, and also enrolled in a beauty school as a back-up.

Career

McGowan made her first appearance in a Hollywood film with a bit role in the 1992 Pauly Shore comedy Encino Man. Her role in the 1995 black comedy The Doom Generation brought her to the attention of film critics, and she received a nomination for "Best Debut Performance" at the 1996 Independent Spirit Awards. McGowan was subsequently cast in a supporting role in the 1996 hit horror film Scream.

McGowan spent the majority of the 1990s appearing in a variety of independent films, including roles in Southie, Going All the Way, and Lewis & Clark & George. In 1997, she appeared in the critically acclaimed short Seed, directed by San Francisco-born filmmaker Karin Thayer, and played opposite Peter O'Toole in the 1998 film adaptation of the Dean Koontz novel Phantoms. Notably, McGowan also starred in the 1999 comedy Jawbreaker, where she played a high school student who tries to cover up a classmate's murder. That role earned McGowan a nomination for Best Villain at the 1999 MTV Movie Awards.

In 2001, McGowan was cast as Paige Matthews in the popular The WB television series Charmed, as a replacement lead actress after Shannen Doherty's departure from the show. She was offered to be a producer after the seventh season, but turned it down. The series ended its run on May 21, 2006.

In May 2005, McGowan portrayed actress/singer Ann-Margret in Elvis, a Golden Globe-winning CBS mini-series about the life of Elvis Presley. That same year, she lent her voice to the video game Darkwatch as a femme fatale named Tala. The game was published by Capcom for PlayStation 2 and Xbox.

In 2006, McGowan had a brief role in Brian De Palma's Academy Award-nominated film The Black Dahlia. The following year, she starred in the Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez double-feature Grindhouse, released on April 6, 2007. Cast in utterly divergent roles, McGowan appears in both portions of the film, as go-go dancing Cherry in Planet Terror, and as Pam in Death Proof. McGowan attended the 60th Annual Cannes Film Festival to promote Death Proof along with Robert Rodriguez, Rosario Dawson, Tracie Thoms, Zoe Bell, and Quentin Tarantino.

According to Variety, McGowan has signed on to play B-movie staple Susan Cabot in the upcoming film Black Oasis. Director Stephan Elliott (Priscilla, Queen of the Desert) has penned and will direct the film based on a Premiere article by John H. Richardson. Shooting will begin fall 2007.

McGowan is also a co-host with Robert Osborne on TCM's film-series program The Essentials, on which a classic Hollywood film is shown every week.

Modeling

McGowan was the face of American clothing company Bebe from 1998 to 1999. She was also the cover model for the Henry Mancini tribute album Shots in the Dark, which was released in 1996. In addition to clothing endorsements, McGowan has appeared on numerous magazine covers, including Seventeen, Interview, Maxim, GQ, Entertainment Weekly and Rolling Stone. She has also frequently been featured on Maxim, FHM and Stuff magazine's sexiest women lists.

Awards

In 1996, McGowan was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for her role in The Doom Generation. A few years later, at the 1999 MTV Movie Awards, she was nominated for "Best Villain" for her role in Jawbreaker. In 2005, McGowan won "Best Sister" at the Family TV Awards, for her role on Charmed. In 2006, Blender included her on their list of the sexiest women of TV and film. The most recent award won by McGowan was under the category Femme Fatale for the 2007 Spike TV Guys' Choice Awards, which aired June 13, 2007. The award was for the role of Cherry in Grindhouse. McGowan is currently nominated for "Scream Queen" at the 2007 Scream Awards on Spike TV.

Personal life

McGowan used to live in Seattle, Washington, but currently resides in Los Angeles, California. She was in a very public three and a half-year relationship with rock musician Marilyn Manson, and often appeared with him at celebrity events in extremely provocative clothing, such as the chain-mail transparent dress and thong she wore to the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards. McGowan later ended their two-year engagement over "lifestyle differences." She has since gone on to have relationships with fellow actor Kip Pardue, TV personality Ahmet Zappa, and Men's Health magazine editor David Zinczenko. Prior to the release of Grindhouse, there was speculation that McGowan was dating married Mexican-American director Robert Rodriguez. In May 2007, it was reported that they confirmed their relationship while appearing hand-in-hand at the Cannes Film Festival. On October 122007 it was announced by Zap2it.com that McGowan was engaged to Rodriguez.

McGowan has admitted to sleepwalking as a child. "The weirdest spot I ever woke up was a snow bank in Montreal. Now I just speak Italian in my sleep".

McGowan is known as an activist for Boston Terriers. She herself has two, Bug and Fester, and has personally donated to various Boston rescues. McGowan reportedly encouraged friends to donate to Boston Terrier Rescue Net, and according to BTRN: "Having fallen in love with Bug and Fester, her friends donated generously. It amounted to a considerable contribution, which will go a long way in helping BTRN and the needy volunteers who selflessly give to deserving Bostons."

McGowan and her friend Natasha Andres have recently started selling their own line of Pinken Mint purse caddies, which are hooks used to hang handbags from tables and chairs in restaurants as an alternative to resting them on possibly unclean floors. Celebrities such as Keira Knightley, Carmen Electra, and Virginia Madsen have been known to use the caddies.

According to an article in the New York Post, McGowan suffered serious injuries in a car accident early in 2007. Riding as a passenger, her car was struck by another vehicle and the force of the impact drove her eyeglasses into her face. McGowan is quoted as saying, "I didn't realize I was hurt until I put my hand to my face and felt the flap of skin. My glasses had sliced me under my eye." After obtaining the services of a plastic surgeon, McGowan is reported to be suffering no long-lasting consequences from the incident.

Of her acting method, she has said "I'm not really one of those people who goes and writes some big backstory and agonizes over characters... For me personally, it's just kind of more instinctive. But I don't have kind of an acting background. I fell into it accidentally".

As a victim of sexual assault, McGowan continues to lead discussions on the subject among campus groups.

On her right shoulder, Rose used to have a distinctive tattoo of a woman. The design comes from a painting that Rose's Grandfather had painted on the side of his WWII plane. The tattoo clearly shows Rose's love for the 40's, and glamorous women from that period. Rose McGowan's style is also very much like actresses from black and white movies. Although Charmed make-up artists attempted to cover the tattoo in most episodes, they were sometimes unable to cover it completely and you could just about see the outline. Her tattoo was on show in some of her films, for example Jawbreaker, in which she played bad girl Courtney Alice Shayne. During 2004 Rose decided to have her tattoo removed. Although it's still slightly visible, it's no longer the bold trademark tattoo it was. Rose McGowan also has some piercings. She has both ears pierced, and her belly button.

Music

While dating Manson, McGowan appeared in a music video for the song "Coma White", and also performed backing vocals on the song "Posthuman." Both of these songs are available on the album Mechanical Animals. Manson later wrote a track that is rumored to be inspired by their failed relationship "(s)AINT" found on the Golden Age of Grotesque.

McGowan appeared on a BT track called "Superfabulous" from his album Emotional Technology, which was also featured on the final Charmed soundtrack, The Final Chapter. The song has been featured in several films, including Win a Date with Tad Hamilton and Raising Helen. She wrote and recorded a song titled "Protection," which was featured in her 2001 film Strange Hearts. McGowan has also appeared in the Imperial Teen music video for "Yoo Hoo", which was featured on the Jawbreaker soundtrack.

McGowan has expressed interest in recording an album of her own. During an interview with Living TV, she said, "I was actually thinking of going back and doing more soulful tunes and older tunes...and I would love to, when I have a little bit more time." In the Charmed episode "Sense and Sense Ability," McGowan performed, in character, a cover of the Peggy Lee classic "Fever." In 2007, it was announced that McGowan would be performing three songs from the Planet Terror portion of Grindhouse. These songs were released on the soundtrack by the Varese Sarabande label. The songs are entitled "You Belong to Me" (a Dean Martin cover), "Useless Talent #32" and "Two Against the World."

Filmography

Creature From The Black Lagoon 2008 as Kay Lawrence

TV

Title	Year	Role	Notes
The Killing Yard	2001	Linda Borus	Based on the 1971 Attica Prison Riots. Made for TV.
Elvis	2005	Ann-Margret	Mini-series. Made for TV.
Charmed	2001-2006	Paige Matthews	Longest running TV show with all female leads.
The Essentials	2008	Co Host	Rose co-hosts the show with Robert Osborne

External links

• Rose McGowan at IMDb

• Template:Tvtome person
• Rose McGowan on xFamily.org - Includes information about her experience with the Children of God.
• Maxim interview
• MoviesOnline Interview, Grindhouse