Rose McGowan was born in Florence, Italy in 1973. Her parents raised in Italy on a commune of the Children of God cult. Her parents moved back to the United States when Rose was ten. They didn't want anything to do with American culture, however, and Rose had never spoken English until then. article continued below...

Rose McGowan was born in Florence, Italy in 1975. Her parents raised in Italy on a commune of the Children of God cult. Her parents moved back to the United States when Rose was ten. They didn't want anything to do with American culture, however, and Rose had never spoken English until then.

She had never seen a movie before either, and she wasn't even aware that movies and television existed. Her education was limited to "little schools where the kids laid around listening to Kurt Vonnegut." All the traditional education she recieved was from her mother. In spite of the atmosphere she grew up in, even from early on Rose was very un-hippie and never bought into that lifestyle.

Rose left the commune when she was fifteen. She then worked in a variety of jobs, and often had to lie about her age to get them. She worked as a waitress, sales clerk, ticket taker and other minimum wage jobs. She was even forced to live on the streets for a while.

Her first acting opportunity was in 1992's Encino Man. After that, she waited another three years before being in another movie. Her next film was Gregg Araki's Doom Generation. Araki had met her outside a gym while she was in LA to attend arts school, and he decided to cast her in his Sundance entry.

Although much of Rose's fame has come from her more commercial films like Biodome and Scream, most of her roles have been in independant films.

While McGowan enjoys making movies, her first love is traditional art. Rather than creatin art (like her father), she would rather be a curator and revive museums. She feels that museums have become unfriendly to younger people, and dreams of opening them up so that the average person can connect with them.

• Auditioned for the role of Lisa in Girl, Interrupted (1999).
• Got the role of Amy Blue, in The Doom Generation, after Jordan Ladd pulled out.
• Was engaged to Marilyn Manson. [1998-2001]
• Was a child model.
• Second oldest of six children.
• Mother is French and father is Irish.
• Bebe spokesmodel (1998- ).
• She and Marilyn Manson announced that they were splitting up. [18 January 2001]
• WB announced that McGowen will be playing the new sister Paige Halliwell, on the TV series Charmed. McGowen fills a space vacanted by the departing Shannon Doherty, whose character, Prue Halliwell, has been killed off. [June 2001]
• Told Howard Stern that she broke up with Marilyn Manson because she tired of the rock and roll lifestyle he engaged in. When pressed further, she admitted that drug use was a big part of that lifestyle. [October 2001]
• Has a tattoo of a woman on her right shoulder.
• She knits, gardens, and collects Marlene Dietrich memorabilia.

• "I think if I had lived back in Salem, I would have been burned at the stake"
• "I am going to be pretty kick a$$ by the time I'm thirty, and I can't wait!!"
• "You have to work to carve out your own little corner, and I'm certainly smacking my head against the wall trying to make a dent. I just hope I don't get brain-damaged before I get there."
• "Hollywood is all about making an entrance. I don't want to be a walking advertisement for anyone other than myself."
• "I always thought I was more satanic than Manson." ( Discussing the sinister reputation of her ex-fiancé Marilyn Manson.)
• "I feel people have tried to stamp out what is special about me. Why should I downplay myself to make someone else more comfortable?"
• "It's my job to spread deviance to the American youth."
• "I'm a pussycat unless you do something to one of my friends. Then I'll think of unique ways to get back at you. I'm more creative than your average bear."