Biography:
Appearing as a cross between Betty Boop's evil sister and a very curvaceous Hell's Angel, actress Rose McGowan made an undeniably distinct impression on Hollywood in the late '90s. With her sharp tongue and brash sensuality, McGowan has been a source of both titillation and discomfort to an industry that still hasn't quite figured out what to do with women who are both unapologetically smart and sexual.

The child of hippies, McGowan was born September 5, 1975, in Florence, Italy, to a French mother and Irish father. The second oldest of six children, McGowan was raised on an Italian commune run by the Children of God cult. Her family relocated to Oregon when McGowan was ten, and she left the commune at 15. She supported herself with a variety of odd jobs and even lived on the streets for awhile before traveling to Los Angeles to attend an arts school. It was there that she was discovered by director Gregg Araki, who, as fate would have it, encountered her outside of a gym. Araki was busy casting his Sundance entry, The Doom Generation, and gave her the role of Amy Blue, the film's beautiful, spoiled, and morally ambiguous protagonist. Prior to her role, McGowan had only appeared as a minor character in 1992's Encino Man, making her casting in Araki's film all the more fortuitous. The Doom Generation was released in 1995, to mixed reviews and a fair amount of controversy, but helped to establish McGowan as, if not Hollywood's Next Big Thing, then Internet fodder for slavering males everywhere.

The film also gave her a greater chance at steady work and she followed The Doom Generation with the low-budget thriller Kiss and Tell (1996). Subsequently, she landed a role in another thriller possessing a decidedly bigger budget, Wes Craven's Scream (1996). The film was a surprise hit and McGowan's turn as a frisky student who has an unfortunate encounter with a garage door further widened her fan base. After starring in the 1997 TV movie Devil in the Flesh, McGowan appeared in two back-to-back movies with fellow rising star Ben Affleck. First came her turn as the girl who tries to seduce a very excited Jeremy Davies in 1997's Going All the Way, followed by her role in the ski slope thriller Phantoms (1998). 1999 saw her take the lead in the independent film Jawbreaker, in which she starred with Rebecca Gayheart. As Alpha Bitch Courtney Shane, McGowan excelled in a role that was equal parts vamp, tramp, and camp. The film met with mixed reviews and lackluster box-office but helped to cement McGowan's position as one of the most watchable guilty pleasures of the late '90s.

~ Rebecca Flint, All Movie Guide