Holly Marie Combs

Holly Marie Combs
Combs at 1991 Emmy Awards
Born	December 3, 1973 (1973-12-03) (age 35) San Diego, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress/Producer
Years active	1985–present
Spouse(s)	Bryan Travis Smith (1993-1997) David W. Donoho (2004-present) 3 sons

Holly Marie Combs (born December 3, 1973)^[1] is an American film and television actress and producer. Her roles have included the portrayal of Piper Halliwell in the television series Charmed and of Kimberly Brock in Picket Fences. She received a Young Artist Award for her role in Picket Fences.^[2][3]

Early life

Holly Marie 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 eighteen.^[4] Combs' biological parents married, but the two split up after two years,^[5] 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.

Career

Combs & Lauren Holly at 1991 Emmy awards

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.^[4] Picket Fences ran for four years, winning Combs critical acclaim and a Young Artist award.^[2][3]

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 girlfriend of Glenn Quinn's character, Jennifer Campbell.

In 1997, she played real-life convicted murderess Diane Zamora in the television movie Swearing Allegiance, a far cry from her other good girl roles. 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. Alyssa Milano and Combs both became producers for Charmed in the fifth season.^[6] For the first three 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. When the eldest, Doherty, left after the third season and Rose McGowan joined the cast for the fourth season, Combs played the eldest sister for the remaining five seasons of the show. This is all while she was the youngest of all four actresses.

In 2008, Combs signed a contract with Lifetime Television to produce and star in a new TV series, Mistresses which was originally scheduled to air in January 2009, but was not picked up.^[7][8]

Personal life

In 1993, Combs married Brian "Travis" Smith; they divorced in 1997.^{[9][not in citation given]} She then went on to marry former Charmed key-grip and long-time boyfriend David Donoho on February 14, 2004. They are the parents of three sons: Finley Arthur Donoho (born April 26, 2004), Riley Edward Donoho (born October 26, 2006) and Kelley James Donoho (born May 26, 2009), all born by caesarian section. Combs kept her third pregnancy a secret due to it being high risk with a delivery at 35 weeks.^[10]

Combs has 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 around her 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 15 whenever she was nervous.^[11] That changed as soon as she found out about her pregnancy with her first child, 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 the 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!^[11]

Combs was once asked how she balances her career with motherhood. She responded, "You never feel like you’re one hundred percent at either one. I don’t ever feel like I’m the best actress I can be or the best mother I can be."^{[citation needed]}

Combs currently lives in Bell Canyon, San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles with her husband, children and mother.

Filmography

Film roles

Television roles

Television movies and miniseries

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Holly Marie Combs

• Holly Marie Combs at the Internet Movie Database
• Holly Marie Combs at TV.com

v • d • e Charmed Universe Television series Episodes · Cast · Awards and nominations Episode guide Season 1 · Season 2 · Season 3 · Season 4 · Season 5 · Season 6 · Season 7 · Season 8 Spin-offs Novels · Mermaid (pilot) · Multimedia · Magazines · Video game · Board games · Collectible Card Game Music "How Soon Is Now?" · The Soundtrack · The Book of Shadows · The Final Chapter Cultural impact Academia · Guidebooks Characters Main Prue Halliwell · Piper Halliwell · Phoebe Halliwell · Paige Matthews Supporting Andy Trudeau · Darryl Morris · Dan Gordon · Leo Wyatt · Cole Turner · Chris Halliwell · Billie Jenkins Recurring Penny Halliwell · Patty Halliwell · Victor Bennett · Wyatt Halliwell Villains Rex Buckland · Hannah Webster · Barbas · The Triad · Belthazor · The Source of All Evil · Shax · The Seer · The Crone · Gideon · Zankou · Christy Jenkins Beings The Avatars · Darklighters · The Hollow · Whitelighters · Elders Locations and artifacts Bay Area, San Francisco · The Halliwell Manor · Magic School · The Nexus · The Book of Shadows · Triquetra Related articles Spelling Television · The WB · Aaron Spelling · Constance M. Burge · Brad Kern Category:Charmed