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Holly Marie Combs Donoho (born December 3, 1973) is an American actress. Her roles have included portrayals of Piper Halliwell in the American television series Charmed and Kimberly Brock in Picket Fences, for which she received a Young Artist Award. A feisty brunette with a self-assured attitude, Holly Marie Combs rose to fame as modern-day witch Piper Halliwell on the WB’s hit series “Charmed” (1998-2006). A California native raised in New York, Combs also starred as Kimberly Brock on David E. Kelley’s award-winning series “Picket Fences” (CBS, 1992-1996), which won her a Young Artist Award in 1993. 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. 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 mom 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 of Acting. 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. Picket Fences ran for four years, winning Combs critical acclaim and a Young Artist award. 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 boyfriend of Glenn Quinn's character, Jennifer Campbell. Combs’ first major break as an actress came at age 18 when she was cast as Kimberly Brock on the Emmy Award-winning dramatic series, “Picket Fences” (CBS, 1992-96). Though show creator David E. Kelley did not initially think Combs was right for the part, it was eventually rewritten for her, a move that proved successful for all parties. Portraying the teenage daughter of Tom Skerritt and Kathy Baker for four seasons, Combs received critical praise for her performance on the series, which later won her a Young Artist Award. 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. Combs landed another lead role in series television – this time on the WB’s supernatural series “Charmed” (1998-2006). Cast opposite Alyssa Milano and real-life friend Shannen Doherty, Combs rounded out a trio of sisters who learn that they hereditarily possess the powers of witchcraft. Portraying the down-to-earth middle sister, Piper, Combs starred on the series for eight seasons, becoming a producer on the series in 2002. Though tension on the set, reportedly between Doherty and Milano, drove the former to leave the series after the third season, Rose McGowan was soon brought in as Doherty’s replacement. The chemistry between McGowan, Combs and Milano proved to be as successful for the series, which continued for five more seasons. On hiatus from the series, Combs made a cameo in Steven Soderbergh’s “Ocean’s Eleven” (2001), and starred opposite Charisma Carpenter in the ABC Family Network comedy “See Jane Date” (2003), portraying a struggling actress whose career benefits from an affair with an A-list actor. Alyssa Milano and Combs both became producers for Charmed in the fifth season. For all eight 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, then the eldest once Doherty left, even though she was the youngest of the four actresses. In 1993, Combs married Brian "Travis" Smith; they divorced in 1997. She then went on to marry former Charmed key-grip and long time boyfriend David Donoho on Valentine's Day, 2004. They are parents to two boys. Combs has a total of 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 round 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 fifteen whenever she was nervous. That changed as soon as she found out about her pregnancy with first child, Finley Arthur, 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 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!" |
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