Rose McGowan

Rose McGowan is the American actress who portrays young Cora on ABC's Once Upon a Time.

Biography
Rose Jane McGowan was born on September 5, 1973 in Florence, Italy as the second of six children to writer Terri Glidden of French descent and artist Daniel McGowan of Irish descent.

They lived in Tuscany where her father headed the local Children of God cult and Rose spent her early years living on the group's rural commune. She began modeling in Italian magazines, including Vogue Bambini, when she was only three years old. After her father ran off with a nanny, they left the cult and relocated to the United States. After her parents' divorce, a ten-year-old Rose split her time between Evergreen, Colorado with her father and Eugene, Oregon with her mother. At fourteen, she was accused of using drugs and was sent to a rehab clinic. Upon release, she wandered the Northwest homeless before becoming emancipated at age fifteen and finishing up her high school years while living with an aunt in Seattle. Later on, Rose worked part-time at a public relations firm and attending beauty school before landing in Los Angeles.

Rose made her first appearance in a Hollywood film with a bit role in the 1992 Pauly Shore comedy Encino Man. Her role in the 1995 dark comedy The Doom Generation brought her to the attention of film critics, and she received a nomination for "Best Debut Performance" at the 1996 Independent Spirit Awards. She was subsequently cast in a supporting role in the 1996 hit horror film Scream. She became the cover model for the Henry Mancini tribute album Shots in the Dark, which was released in 1996 and was the face of American clothing company Bebe from 1998 to 1999.

The majority of her on-screen appearances in the 90s were in a variety of independent films, including roles in Southie, Going All the Way, and Lewis & Clark & George. In 1997, she appeared in the critically acclaimed short Seed, directed by San Francisco-born filmmaker Karin Thayer, and played opposite Peter O'Toole in the 1998 film adaptation of the Dean Koontz novel Phantoms. Notably, she also starred in the 1998 dark comedy Jawbreaker, where she played a snooty high school student who tries to cover up a classmate's murder. This role earned her a nomination for Best Villain at the 1999 MTV Movie Awards.

In 2001, Rose was cast as Paige Matthews in the popular The WB television series Charmed, as a replacement lead actress after Shannon Doherty's departure from the show. During and after Charmed, she tackled a variety of different roles; portraying actress and singer Ann-Margret in Elvis, a Golden Globe-winning CBS mini-series about the life of Elvis Presley, and also appeared in Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia.

In 2007, she headlined the critically acclaimed Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez double-feature Grindhouse, released on April 6, 2007. Cast in utterly divergent roles, Rose appears in both portions of the film, as go-go dancing Cherry Darling in Planet Terror, and as Pam in Death Proof. She followed up the project with a role in the IRA thriller Fifty Dead Men Walking and a recurring role as a con artist on the acclaimed drama series Nip/Tuck. After a brief hiatus from film, she shot a cameo in the Robert Rodriguez thriller Machete, a role ultimately cut but included on the DVD release, and played a semi-homeless junkie in the fantasy drama Dead Awake.

In addition to film and television, Rose lent her voice to the video games Darkwatch, portraying a femme fatale named Tala, and Salvation as a troubled soldier named Angie Salter. She also co-hosted the TCM's film-series program The Essentials alongside Robert Osbourne in 2008, discussing classic Hollywood film, a subject close to her heart.

In 2011, she appears as an evil half human witch in the comic book adaptation of Conan the Barbarian and guest starred in an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as a drifter who targets New York sex clubs. Rose headlined the psychological thriller Rosewood Lane from director Victor Salva, while she appeared in the lead role in the television movie The Pastor's Wife alongside Michael Shanks and starred in the feature film The Tell-Tale Heart, an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's short story.