- published: 29 May 2009
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Charmed is an American television series that originally aired from October 7, 1998, until May 21, 2006, on the now defunct The WB Television Network. The series was created by writer Constance M. Burge and was produced by Aaron Spelling and his Spelling Television company, with the show runner being writer-director Brad Kern.
The series follows the four Halliwell sisters—Prue, Piper, Phoebe and, later, Paige (who replaces Prue from season 4 onwards). The sisters are the culmination of the most powerful line of good witches in history and are known as The Charmed Ones in the supernatural community, whose prophesized destiny is to protect innocent lives against evil beings such as demons and warlocks. Each sister possesses unique magical powers that grow and evolve, while they attempt to hold normal working lives in modern day San Francisco. Keeping their supernatural identities separate and secret from their ordinary lives often becomes a challenge for them, with the exposure of magic having far-reaching consequences on their various relationships and resulting in a number of police and FBI investigations throughout the series.
Rose Arianna McGowan (born September 5, 1973) is an American actress and singer. She is well known for her role as Paige Matthews in The WB Television Network supernatural drama series Charmed. She played Ann-Margret alongside Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Elvis Presley in the CBS mini-series Elvis. In 2008, she was guest programmer and co-host of TCM's film-series program, The Essentials.
She made her film debut in the 1992 comedy Encino Man, where she played a small role. Her performance as Amy Blue in the 1995 dark comedy film The Doom Generation brought her to a wider attention, and received an Independent Spirit Award nomination. McGowan then appeared in the 1996 hit horror film Scream and starred alongside Ben Affleck in the 1997 coming-of-age feature Going All the Way. Later, she appeared in several Hollywood films, including Devil in the Flesh (1998), Jawbreaker (1999), Ready to Rumble (2000), Monkeybone (2001) and The Black Dahlia (2006). In 2007, she was cast in the double-feature film directed by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino Grindhouse. She also portrayed the character Grace in the crime thriller film Fifty Dead Men Walking (2008).
Holly Marie Combs (born December 3, 1973) is an American film and television actress and producer whose roles have included a portrayal in Charmed as Piper Halliwell and another in Picket Fences, where she received a Young Artist Award for her role, as Kimberly Brock. She now stars in the ABC Family original series Pretty Little Liars as Ella Montgomery.
Combs was born in San Diego, California. At the time of her birth, her mother, Lauralei Combs (née Berckhem), was sixteen years old and her father was seventeen. Combs' biological parents married, but the two split up after two years, 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.