Rose was born on September 5, 1973 in Florence, Italy. Her mother was American, her father was Irish. She was the second oldest of six children and moved to the USA at age 9. She later ran away to Los Angeles, where she met Gregg Araki, The Doom Generation (1995) director, and he cast her in the film. Once she finally made it, she met shock-rocker Marilyn Manson aka Brian Warner to whom she was formerly engaged. WB announced that McGowan will be playing Paige Matthews, the long-lost, baby half-sister of Prue, Piper and Phoebe on The WB's hit series "Charmed" (1998). McGowan was cast after Shannen Doherty, who played eldest sister Prue Halliwell, was fired when she refused to sign a two-year contract extension. [June 2001] Got the role of Tatum Riley in Scream (1996) after Mindy Clarke refused to take the part. Coincidentally, the two would later work together when Clarke guest starred on "Charmed" (1998) in October 2002. Ranked #39 in Stuff magazine's "102 Sexiest Women in the World" (2002).