Shannen Doherty is an American actress. She is known for her many roles in television and film, including as Jenny Wilder in Little House on the Prairie (1982–1983); Maggie Malene in Girls Just Want to Have Fun (1985); Kris Witherspoon in Our House (1986–1988); amongst others.
Doherty was raised as a Southern Baptist by her mother after being born in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1982, Doherty made cameo appearances on TV shows like Voyagers! and Father Murphy, which Michael Landon conceived and produced.
The same year, Landon’s Little House on the Prairie, which Doherty, then 11, starred in and produced, awarded her the recurring character of Jenny Wilder.
Doherty appeared in every episode of the show’s last season, which ended in 1983 with the exception of four. In 1982, Doherty provided the voice for the animated movie The Secret of NIMH.
She had an appearance in an episode of Magnum, P.I. (“A Sense of Debt”) before making an early appearance in an episode of Airwolf, for which she received a nomination at the 6th Youth in Film Awards in 1984 for Best Young Actress: Guest in a Series.
Doherty’s debut leading role in a major motion picture was in the 1988 dark comedy Heathers. Her breakthrough performance as Brenda Walsh in the Aaron Spelling-produced television series Beverly Hills, 90210 in 1990 brought her international fame and notice.
She was nominated for a Young Artist Award in 1991 and 1992 for Best Young Actress Starring in a Television Series for her portrayal of Brenda.
After the fourth season in 1994, Doherty departed the program. She first appeared bare in December 1993 and then again in a spread in March 1994 of Playboy magazine. She once more posed for publication in December 2003, and the result is a 10-page pictorial.
Doherty joined the cast of the Heathers TV show in November 2016, which was initially scheduled to premiere on Paramount Network in March 2018. She originated the role of Heather Duke in the 1989 film, but she played the mother of one of the next generation of “Heathers” instead.
The show’s release, however, was postponed due to the Parkland school shooting because of its gritty tone and themes of high school violence. The network made the decision to completely axe the program in June 2018. In the end, the show broadcast over the course of five evenings in October 2018.
For the six-episode follow-up to BH90210, which premiered on August 7, 2019, Doherty played Brenda Walsh once more. She appeared in the Undateable John movie that same year, alongside Daryl Hannah, Tom Arnold, and Margaret Cho.
Fortress, a 2021 film starring Jesse Metcalfe, Bruce Willis, Chad Michael Murray, Kelly Greyson, and Ser’Darius Blain, included her. Lionsgate Films released the movie on December 17, 2021, in a few theaters and on video on demand.
Shannen Doherty health: What illness does she have?
Shannen Doherty disclosed in 1999 that she had been given a Crohn’s disease diagnosis. Doherty was identified as having lymph node-stage breast cancer in March 2015.
Doherty disclosed in February 2016 that she was undergoing anti-estrogen therapy in order to reduce the tumour’s size and permit lumpectomy as opposed to mastectomy as a therapeutic option.
A unilateral mastectomy was carried out in May 2016 since a lumpectomy was not feasible due to the presence of numerous tumours. Following surgery, it was discovered that some cancer cells may have moved outside of the lymph nodes.
Doherty needed chemotherapy and radiotherapy after surgery since the cancer was further advanced than initially believed. Doherty made the announcement that her cancer was in remission on April 29, 2017.
Doherty reported on February 4, 2020, that her cancer had come back and was now in stage four. Doherty gave an update on her cancer treatment in an interview with ABC News’ Juju Chang in October 2021. She declared that the illness had spread to her brain and was fatal in June 2023.
