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Holly Marie Combs:
As one-third of the hot trio starring on the WB's top-rated Charmed, 27-year-old Holly Marie Combs has every right to be living an ultraglamorous life. But you'd be more likely to find this down-to-earth actress at a rough-and-tumble rodeo than on Beverly Hills' posh Rodeo Drive.
On her days off, Holly, who lives in L.A.'s rustic Bell Canyon in a Spanish-style three-bedroom home, drives her gargantuan pickup truck several miles down the road to the stables where she boards her precious quarter horses Jake, Jesse, and Jezebel. It's there, in her grungy barnyard getups, that the no-frills beauty is most comfortable. "I'm a hick," she says, petting Jezebel's chestnut mane. "I can't get away from trailers. I work out of a trailer on the Charmed set. I love to go camping in a trailer. I drive a truck so I can pull my horse trailer. I guess I'm trailer trash!" Not exactly. But one thing's for sure, even if she's way too humble to admit it: This Hollywood star is turning heads.
Breaking into the Hollywood Biz
Combs was born in San Diego when her mom was just 15 and her dad was 17. Her parents married, dropped out of high school, and made ends meet as best they could (her dad worked at a feed store and her mom got a job at the Del Mar racetrack exercising horses), but they divorced two years later. When Combs was 8, her mom decided to pursue acting, so they moved to Manhattan. Since breaking into showbiz is no easy feat, Holly's mother held down waitressing and modeling jobs to help pay the bills, while her stepfather--who married her mom when Holly was 12--worked as a bartender. The family was so cash-strapped, they often had to live in cramped apartments. The worst was a teensy studio they lived in when Combs was a teenager. "I had a loft, and my parents' bed was underneath," Combs says. "You could only be alone in the bathroom. I don't know how we did it." With such family closeness, it's no wonder Holly caught the acting bug as well. Around age 10, she began going on auditions and eventually appeared in several national TV commercials and landed a blink-and-you'll-miss-her part in Born on the Fourth of July. Looking back, says Combs, "I thought I knew everything at 16. I was very confident." Case in point: During the filming of Born on the Fourth of July, the film's star Tom Cruise pulled Combs aside to give her a little friendly advice. "He said, 'Don't let [director] Oliver Stone scare you,'" remembers Combs. "I was like, 'I'm not scared at all.' and Tom said, 'Really? He scares the hell out of me.'"
FILMOGRAPHY
The Women Of Charmed - (2000) as Herself
Charmed - (1998) TV as Piper Halliwell
Love's Deadly Triangle - (1997) as Diane
Daughters - (1997)
Loves Deadly Triangle - (1997) as Diane Zamora
Sins Of Silence - (1996) as Sophia
Vector - (1996)
A Reason To Believe - (1995) as Sharon
A Perfect Stranger - (1994) TV as Amanda
Picket Fences - (1992- 1996) TV as Kimberly
Chain Of Desire - (1992) as Diana
Dr. Giggles - (1992) as Jennifer
Simple Men - (1992) as Kim
New York Stories - (1989) Uncredited
Born On The Fourth Of July - (1989) as Jenny
Sweethearts Dance - (1988) as Debs Boon
Wall Of Glass - (1985) as Girl In Flashback
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