|
Holly Marie Combs - Biography |
|
|
|
Holly Marie Combs was born December
3, 1973, in San Diego, California. At the time of her birth, her
15-year-old mother and 17-year-old father quit school to marry, only to
divorce two years later. At the age of 8, Holly moved to New York City
with her mother, Lauralei, who had hopes of being an actress and a singer.
Soon Holly Marie was appearing in print and television ads, so when her
new stepfather moved into their cramped studio apartment when she was 12,
he had two aspiring actresses on his hands.
Holly became increasingly committed to her pursuits, and gained her Screen
Actors Guild card for her minor role in 1985's Walls of Glass, which also
featured her mother. Small roles gradually came along, most notably 1988's
Sweet Hearts Dance, in which she played the on-screen daughter of Don
Johnson and Susan Sarandon, and a part in Oliver Stone's Born on the
Fourth of July, starring Tom Cruise. Despite indications of great things
to come, Holly would not go on to find her greatest success on the silver
screen.
By all accounts, Combs' big breakthrough was her role as Kimberly Brock on
CBS's Picket Fences, from 1992 to 1996. The story of her audition
illustrates her gutsy attitude. Star producer David E. Kelley (the man
behind shows like Ally McBeal and The Practice) told her that she did not
have "a big enough heart" to play Kimberly. Having just come off the
subway, Holly replied, "if you're looking for someone with a big heart,
what the hell are you doing in New York?" Two weeks later, she got the
job.
Her Picket Fences character, Kimberly Brock, was admired for being an
earnest teen; the role won Holly a Young Actors Award for Best Young
Actress in a New Television Series in 1993 and no doubt influenced her
being cast in a string of films and TV movies during her Picket Fences
tenure. Between 1992 and 1996, she appeared in small-budget films like
Simple Men, Dr. Giggles, Chain of Desire, A Reason to Believe, and, on
television, in A Perfect Stranger and Sins of Silence.
Coinciding with her uncommonly mature career management skills was a
marriage that Holly has since characterized as somewhat youthfully
idealistic and naïve. In 1993, she met and dated actor Bryan Smith, and
the two eloped in Las Vegas a short while later. The marriage lasted four
years.
Despite the ups and downs of her love life (she was also engaged to Storm
Lyndon, but they broke up before heading to the altar), her career was on
the steady up-and-up. It was best friend Shannen Doherty who effectively
brought Holly to Charmed, a new series about three young witch sisters, in
1998. (In 2000, Doherty left and was replaced by Rose McGowan.)
The popularity of the WB's Charmed has cemented Holly's success and
reputation. It has also brought her an impressive cash flow (she
reportedly earns $60,000 an episode) and the inspiration to expand her
talents beyond acting, as she signed on as producer in 2002. She also made
a cameo appearance in 2001's Ocean's Eleven, in the scene where Brad
Pitt's character teaches young celebs to play poker.
Outside her acting career, Holly has become an active supporter of
Thursday's Child, a charity for teenage runaways, and a spokesperson for
breast cancer awareness. She lives the San Fernando Valley with her
husband David W. Donoho, and their son, Finley Arthur Donoho (b. April 26,
2004). |
|
|
|
Holly Marie Combs - Personal Quotes |
|
|
|
"I have no interest in a guy
who doesn't know the right end of a screwdriver."
[About having a child, shortly before getting pregnant] "For some
reason everybody on the set - except for me - thinks I should get
pregnant for real. It's like they all got together and I've been
nominated! Honestly, the thought of having a baby scares me!"
(About topless pictures of her on the internet.) "I did one topless
scene when I was 20. There was no thought in my mind that they could
freeze that moment into 15 different pictures. The worst, I was
thinking, was that stupid guy friends of mine could rewind it and
play it again."
I was the product of very young parents, and they had wild ways. My
mother was in a punk band. Rebelling would have been learning to
play piano.
(On the miracle of motherhood.) Now, as an actress and a person, it
has completely broadened my horizons because I have such a deep
level of empathy for everyone. It opens you up and you're like a
bleeding heart. It's funny, because you can be such a guarded person
in your personal life and try to protect yourself from all these
worries and hurts, but when you have a kid, you're suddenly this
feeling being. When Finley gets his vaccinations, it kills me, and
you can't protect yourself from that. My heart is being ripped out
with every shot. It's a deeper level of emotion that I wasn't
prepared to feel, but it's completely amazing. It has opened me up
both as a person and as an actress. Everything has a deeper meaning
now.
(On her baby, Finley) Thank God, he's such a good traveler. He
adapts so well. He can pretty much sleep anywhere. I was very, very
worried about him having a normal kind of life and being comfortable
and not carted around everywhere, but he's so good. We went on
location in Las Vegas with my husband and we'd go out to the casino
and he thinks there's just a lot of people in the living room. Like,
wow, it's kind of loud and there's a lot of people here today.
(On Alyssa & Rose's escapades with her baby, Finley) They take him
in the makeup trailer and do bad things to his hair. The girls gave
him a mohawk the other day. So I can't let him out of my sight for
very long.
(On motherhood) It's weird. When you become a mom you just learn how
to function sleep deprived and you do get used to it. I came back to
work when he was three months old and the first few months were
rough. And then somehow you learn to exist on no sleep. And now when
he does upon occasion sleep through the night, which is like a full
six hours, you're pretty sure he's suffocating. So you don't sleep
anyway.
(On motherhood) It's changed just about everything about my life. It
definitely puts everything in perspective. Things that were so
important to you mean absolutely nothing and the status of his
diaper means absolutely everything.
"The WB never treated us well, so we didn't expect a lot of farewell
wishes and flowers or cards."
There are occasional food fights. We had Friday-night grape night.
Because when I had the scene with Josh and the wine, we started
picking up the plastic grapes and throwing them at each other. By
Friday night we were so tired, and the director couldn't control us!
There were grapes all over the floor.
"Felicity Huffman is just flawless, she's above and beyond TV and
movies and this Earth." |
| |
|
Holly Marie Combs - Filmography |
| |
|
"Charmed" .... Piper Halliwell
(178 episodes, 1998-2006)
- Forever Charmed (2006) TV Episode .... Piper Halliwell
- Kill Billie: Vol. 2 (2006) TV Episode .... Piper Halliwell
- Gone with the Witches (2006) TV Episode .... Piper Halliwell
- The Jung and the Restless (2006) TV Episode .... Piper Halliwell
- The Torn Identity (2006) TV Episode .... Piper Halliwell
(173 more)
See Jane Date (2003) (TV) .... Natasha Nutley
Love's Deadly Triangle: The Texas Cadet Murder (1997) (TV) ....
Diane Zamora
... aka Swearing Allegiance (UK)
"Relativity" .... Anne Pryce (1 episode, 1997)
- Billable Hours (1997) TV Episode .... Anne Pryce
Daughters (1997) (TV) .... Alex Morrell
... aka Our Mother's Murder
"Picket Fences" .... Kimberly Brock (87 episodes, 1992-1996)
- Liver Let Die (1996) TV Episode .... Kimberly Brock
- To Forgive Is Devine (1996) TV Episode .... Kimberly Brock
- Forget Selma (1996) TV Episode .... Kimberly Brock
- Winner Takes All (1996) TV Episode .... Kimberly Brock
- Bye-Bye, Bey-Bey (1996) TV Episode .... Kimberly Brock
(82 more)
Sins of Silence (1996) (TV) .... Sophie DiMatteo
A Reason to Believe (1995) .... Sharon
A Perfect Stranger (1994) (TV) .... Amanda Hale
... aka Danielle Steel's 'A Perfect Stranger' (USA: complete title)
Chain of Desire (1992) .... Diana
Dr. Giggles (1992) .... Jennifer Campbell
Simple Men (1992) .... Kim
... aka Uomini semplici (Italy)
Born on the Fourth of July (1989) (uncredited) .... Jenny
New York Stories (1989) (uncredited) .... Costume Party Guest
(Section 'Life Without Zoe')
Sweet Hearts Dance (1988) .... Debs Boon
Walls of Glass (1985) (uncredited) .... Classmate In Flash Back
... aka Flanagan |
| |
|
Holly Marie Combs - Related Links |
|
Wikipedia: Holly Marie Combs
YouTube: Holly Marie Combs
Holly Marie Combs at Babemania.com
Top Celebrities Sites:
The Celebrity
Cafe |
| |
|
|
|
