Rose Jane McGowan has claimed that her job is "to spread deviance to America's youth," though paradoxically, she ended her famed relationship with Marilyn Manson because she grew bored with his drugged and partying lifestyle.

She spent her childhood in a Christian commune in Italy where she learned to speak Italian as her first language. As a 3 year old she was already making an impression as a child model in Italian magazines like Vogue Bambini.

She ran away from home as a 9 year old and a year later was living in the U.S. with her grandmother in Washington. Her rebellious ways notwithstanding, she describes her communal life in Italy as idyllic, "surrounded by rolling fields and playing in castles that had been cannonballed in the 14th century."

She became an emancipated minor at 15, moving to Los Angeles where she managed to survive working minimum wage jobs as a waitress, a sales clerk and a ticket-taker before landing her first small roles as an actress.

She made her first big impression in a very small, indie film called Doom Generation. She was cast by the film's director Gregg Araki in the role Amy Blue, a reckless, sexually uninhibited wild child. Her irresistible charisma and natural acting ability earned her a nomination as Best Newcomer at the 1996 Independent Spirit Awards.

After a string of eccentric and bad girl roles she had her breakthrough moment in 2001 when she was cast as Paige Matthews in the WB series Charmed.

Ever a favorite of edgy, intelligent filmmakers, she was cast in two separate starring roles by directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez in their doulble-feature Grindhouse.