Holly Marie Combs Biography

Holly Marie Combs
extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Holly Marie Combs
A close-up of Combs wearing sunglasses, derived from a broader picture (from Lauren Holly's article) of Combs standing next to Lauren Holly talking to reporters on the red carpet at the 1991 Emmy Awards.
Combs at 1991 Emmy Awards
Born Holly Marie Combs
December 3, 1973 (1973-12-03) (age 35)
San Diego, California, U.S.
Occupation Actress/Producer
Years active 1985–present
Spouse(s) Bryan Travis Smith (1993-1997)
David W. Donoho (2004-present) 3 sons

Holly Marie Combs (born December 3, 1973)1 is an American film and television actress and producer. Her roles have included the portrayal of Piper Halliwell in the television series Charmed and of Kimberly Brock in Picket Fences. She received a Young Artist Award for her role in Picket Fences.23

Contents

Early life

Holly Marie Combs was born in San Diego, California. At the time of her birth, her mother, Lauralei Combs (née Berckhem), was fifteen years old and her father was seventeen.4 Combs' biological parents married, but the two split up after two years,5 feeling they were too young to make a marriage work. While Combs was learning to walk, she hit her head on a marble table, resulting in a scar over her right eyebrow. She went through many different homes with her mother, often having very little privacy, while her mother attempted to pursue an acting career. When Combs was seven, she and her mother moved to New York City. She was 12 when her mother married her stepfather. In New York City, Combs attended Beekman Hill Elementary and then the Professional Children's School.

Career

Combs & Lauren Holly at 1991 Emmy awards

Although she had a number of minor roles in the late 1980s, including a brief speaking part in Oliver Stone's Born on the Fourth of July, Combs' major acting debut arrived in the 1992 TV drama series Picket Fences. She auditioned for the role of Kimberly while she was in New York. The casting agent told her that she wasn't right for the part because, "She didn't have a big enough heart." Combs retorted, "If you're looking for someone with a big heart, what the hell are you doing in New York?" She was later called back and offered the job.4 Picket Fences ran for four years, winning Combs critical acclaim and a Young Artist award.23

In 1992, Combs made her appearance in Simple Men, Chain of Desire, and Dr. Giggles, in which she plays its protagonist, the 19-year-old daughter of Cliff De Young's character and girlfriend of Glenn Quinn's character, Jennifer Campbell.

In 1997, she played real-life convicted murderess Diane Zamora in the television movie Swearing Allegiance, a far cry from her other good girl roles. Combs was with her friend Shannen Doherty when Doherty was given the pilot script for Charmed. Doherty took Combs along to the audition when Combs said she wanted to take part in the audition. When they did, Combs auditioned for the role of Prue Halliwell and Doherty for Piper Halliwell, but they ended up switching roles. Alyssa Milano and Combs both became producers for Charmed in the fifth season.6 For the first three seasons of Charmed (debuted in 1998 and was a hit TV series, which ended in May 2006), Combs played the second oldest of the three sisters. When the eldest, Doherty, left after the third season and Rose McGowan joined the cast for the fourth season, Combs played the eldest sister for the remaining five seasons of the show. This is all while she was the youngest of all four actresses.

In 2008 Combs signed a contract with Lifetime Television to produce and star in a new TV series, Mistresses which was originally scheduled to air in January 2009, but was not picked up.78

Personal life

In 1993, Combs married Brian "Travis" Smith; they divorced in 1997.9not in citation given She then went on to marry former Charmed key-grip and long-time boyfriend David Donoho on February 14, 2004. They are the parents of three sons: Finley Arthur Donoho (born April 26, 2004), Riley Edward Donoho (born October 26, 2006) and Kelley James Donoho (born May 26, 2009), all born by caesarian section. Combs kept her third pregnancy a secret due to it being high risk with a delivery at 35 weeks.10

Combs has four tattoos: she has a rose on her right shoulder blade, a butterfly on the inside of her right wrist, an Anglo Saxon design around her left wrist, and a Tribal design around her right wrist, which was repaired in November 2000 because the original design was unbalanced.

In an article in ePregnancy Magazine, Combs admits she had been smoking from the age of 15 whenever she was nervous.11 That changed as soon as she found out about her pregnancy with her first child, when she decided to immediately stop:

To [stop smoking] was actually really easy because I had already started to cut down. My husband is asthmatic, and he just can't for the life of him imagine why anybody would put smoke in their mouth, so he really helped me to start cutting down.... Then when I got pregnant the smell of other people's cigarette smoke was so heinous to me that it made me not want to have a cigarette ever again. It's kind of like cheating [when] it's so easy to quit because you can't take the smell!11

Combs was once asked how she balances her career with motherhood. She responded, "You never feel like you’re one hundred percent at either one. I don’t ever feel like I’m the best actress I can be or the best mother I can be."citation needed

Combs currently lives in Bell Canyon, San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles with her husband, children and mother.

Filmography

Film roles

Year Film Role Other notes
1985 Walls of Glass (aka Flanagan) Classmate In Flash Back Uncredited
1988 Sweet Hearts Dance Debs Boon
1989 Born on the Fourth of July Jenny Turner
New York Stories Costume Party Guest Section 'Life Without Zoe'
1992 Chain of Desire Diana Richards
Dr. Giggles Jennifer Campbell
Simple Men Kim Fields
1993 Illicit Affair Amber Bennett
1994 Danielle Steel's A Perfect Stranger Amanda Hale
1995 A Reason to Believe Sharon Digby
1996 Vector Maggie St. James
1996 Scream Sidney Prescott In Unseen Version. Was originally going to play Sidney is shown version
2001 Ocean's Eleven Herself Uncredited

Television roles

Year Title Role Notes Other Notes
1992-1996 Picket Fences Kimberly Brock Award-winning role (Young Actor's Award)
1997 Relativity Anne Pryce Guest star: Season 1, Episode 14
1998–2006 Charmed Piper Halliwell 1998-2006, longest main star, only one in the unaired pilot Series producer (Seasons 5-8)
2009 Mistresses Jane Hollister Producer Cancelled
Preacher12 In development

Television movies and miniseries

Year Title Role Other notes
1994 Danielle Steel's A Perfect Stranger Amanda Hale
1996 Sins of Silence Sophie DiMatteo
1997 Swearing Allegiance Diane Zamora
Daughters (aka Our Mother's Murder) Alex Morrell
2003 See Jane Date Natasha Nutley
2007 Panic Button Kathy Alden

References

  1. ^ Holly Marie Combs: Biography. MSN Movies.
  2. ^ a b "Holly Marie Combs - Awards". IMDb.com. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001061/awards. Retrieved 2007-04-05. 
  3. ^ a b "Young Artist Award". youngartistawards.org. http://www.youngartistawards.org/pastnoms14.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-06. 
  4. ^ a b Deanna Kizis (December 2000). "Holly Charms Hollywood". Cosmopolitan. http://charmed-net.de/en/webtv/show_article.asp?id=47. 
  5. ^ Ask Men.com Feature
  6. ^ "Charmed – Full Cast and Crew". IMDb.com. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0158552/combined. Retrieved 2006-06-21. 
  7. ^ Charmed Holly Is One of Lifetime's Mistresses. Today's News: Our Take. TV Guide.
  8. ^ HollyMCombs.com. "News" – "Holly News: 2009".
  9. ^ "Breakthroughs: Holly Marie Combs". People Magazine. December 1998. http://www.hollymcombs.com/70.jpg. Retrieved 2008-05-06. 
  10. ^ Holly Marie Combs Welcomes Son Kelley James. People. Celebrity Babies
  11. ^ a b "The Charming Holly Marie Combs". ePregnancy Magazine. June 4, 2004. http://www.hollymcombs.com/EPreg.html. Retrieved 2008-05-06. 
  12. ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001061/#actress

External links