Shannen Maria Doherty (born April 12, 1971) is an American actress and television director, perhaps best known for her work as Heather Duke in Heathers (1989), as Brenda Walsh in Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990-1994) and its spinoff series 90210, and as Prue Halliwell in Charmed (1998-2001).

Doherty was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the daughter of Rosa, a beauty parlor owner, and Tom Doherty, a mortgage consultant. Doherty has Irish Catholic ancestry, though was raised in her mother's Southern Baptist religion. At the age of seven (in 1978) her family moved to Los Angeles, and she immediately announced that she wanted to be an actress.

In an interview in the December 2006 issue of Glamour, she said: