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McGowan, the second-eldest of six
children (plus two half-siblings), was born in Florence, Italy, the
daughter of Terri, an American writer of French descent, and Daniel
McGowan, an Irish -born 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.
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 as Tatum Riley, the best
friend of Neve Campbell's character Sidney Prescott, 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/drama 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 dismissal 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 dark brunette, go-go dancing Cherry in Planet
Terror, and as blonde, girlish 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 the tragic 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 magazine article by John H. Richardson. Shooting
will begin fall 2007.
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.
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 her very first award "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 Fetale 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.
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 shock-rocker 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 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 12, 2007 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 experienced 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".
She used to have a tattoo of a pin-up girl on her right shoulder, but its
no longer there.
While dating Marilyn 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 will be released on Terror's soundtrack by the Varese Sarabande
label. The songs are entitled "You Belong to Me", "Useless Talent #32" and
"Two Against the World." A clip of the Dean Martin classic "You Belong to
Me" can be found on YouTube. |
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"I think if I had lived back
in Salem, I would have been burned at the stake"
"I am going to be pretty kick ass 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."
"When I lived in Europe, I was usually pretty exalted for the way I
looked. I had minions who would run and get me candy...But when I
moved to Oregon and entered my goth phase with spiky black hair,
kids threw things at me."
I don't believe in rules. I would be happy to be climbing a pyramid
when I'm 70. And I know I will be.
"I want to live in Paris. I want to learn to ice-skate and to box. I
want to get a degree in Egyptology. I would like to not have to say
"Like, oh my God!" in any movies. I would like to have a day go by
without people screaming various obscenities about body parts. I'd
like to still have Bug and Fester, my Boston terriers. I think I'd
like to be with my boyfriend, except (laughs) I'm pretty
commitment-shy. I'd like to please my father, who used to be in the
Children of God, and do at least one more "porno" film - which is
what he called The Doom Generation. I'd like to start some sort of
counselling program for girls - when I was that age I was always
told that I was gonna burn in hell. I would like to lose the guilt I
have for compulsive spending. I would like to stop being addicted to
diet hot chocolate."
"I'm a fan of pink, I'm a fan of high-heeled shoes and I'm a fan of
strange-looking dogs, so this hits all the notes for me." (at the
Legally Blonde 2 premiere)
I don't really care how people view me particularly. It's not really
any of my business because everyone is going to have their own
opinion and if I started thinking about what everyone else thought
of me, I'd go crazy.
"I think women look better with a little more weight on them. Being
super thin makes you look haggard."
"Hollywood is all about making an entrance. I don't want to be a
walking advertisement for anyone other than myself."
"People thought (I was wild) because of who I was with (Manson). In
reality I've been home baking cupcakes."
"I've always admitted it: I'm a man with really nice breasts - I'm
so guilty of doing every single male thing. Not calling, not showing
up, leaving at four in the morning."
"I still say I can do whatever I want as long as I'm not hurting
anybody else. I don't understand why more people aren't like that."
"If one person starts crying, I'll cry. If one person has no money,
I'll give them mine. If I had a bicycle growing up, I always felt
incredibly guilty when I see someone sitting at the bus stop."
"I know I am kind and I have fun and if I sat there and worried
about what everybody else thought of me my brain would be very
crowded." |
