Holly's mother, Lauralei Combs, was only fourteen when she became pregnant with Holly. Although Holly's parents married, they divorced after only two years, feeling they were too young to make a marriage work. While Holly was learning to walk, she hit her head on a marble table, resulting in a scar over her right eyebrow. When Holly was seven, she and her mother moved to New York City. She was 12 when her mother married her stepfather. As a teenager, she was a rebel: she was often mean to her mum, punished by her teachers and dressed in black. In New York, Holly attended Beekman Hill Elementary and then The Professional Children's School of Acting. Her career started in television commercials and print ads when she was 10, and in the late 1980s, she had a number of minor roles. Although, her major acting debut arrived in the 1992 TV drama series Picket Fences as Kimberly Brock. Numerous critics praised Holly's performance as Kimberly.

In 1992, Holly 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 boyfriend of Glenn Quinn's character, Jennifer Campbell. In 1993, she married actor Brian Smith, but they divorced in 1997. She was very happy when the year after that she won the career-making role of a modern-day witch on Charmed. As star and co-producer of the series, Holly got to kick ass in an array of sexy outfits while exuding keen intelligence and a fiercely maternal spirit. She then went on to marry former Charmed key-grip and long time boyfriend David Donoho on Valentine's Day 2004. They are parents to two boys: Finley Arthur Donoho (born on April 26 2004) and Riley Edward Donoho (born on October 26 2006). David taught Holly how to ride four-wheel dirt bikes, and the two regularly go camping and riding in Pismo Beach, two hours north of L.A. "I'd never been an adrenaline junkie. And riding these things on huge sand dunes is ridiculously frightening. But when it's over, you're like 'Yeah, I did that!'"  

Along with Tangi Miller and Alyson Hannigan, Holly supports the 'Thursday's child' charity.  She says she didn't have an easy time growing up, that's why she supports the 'Thursday's Child' charity, because she can relate to it. Holly is also the official spokesperson for the Breast Cancer Awareness campaign. Holly also loves animals and has a lot of pets at home. She was a vegetarian for 7 years but then she just had to have a cheeseburger so, unfortunately, she isn't any longer. Her hobbies include gardening and horseback riding. She keeps her horses at the same ranch as Alyssa Milano so they go horse riding together whenever they can. The two of them are really close friends!

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Trivia

- Holly is a Scuba Diver. She was certified when she was 13.
- Her father’s name is David Combs.
- If she wasn't an actress, she would have liked to have been a Marine Biologist.
- Her favourite colour is blue. Her favourite food is all kinds of Italian. She also loves Cheeseburgers, Coca Krispies, Salami, and Bacon.
- She has a tendency to lie and she smokes when she is nervous.
- Her favourite subject in high school was English, her worst was maths.
- Holly's tape mark colour for Charmed, so that she knows where to stand in each scene, is orange.
- She likes different kinds of music, from country to really hard rock. She's a big Remy Zero fan, and she loves the Supremes and U2.
- Her favourite books are 'Practical Magic' by Alice Hoffman and 'The Garden of Eden' by Ernest Hemingway.
- Holly married Bryan Smith in a Las Vegas chapel after dating him for 8 days when she was 19, but they got divorced four years later.
- She loves to play Scrabble as well as other games like Trivial Pursuit, Beyond Balderdash, Monopoly and the Worst-Case Scenario Game.
- Her favorite comedian is Chris Rock, and her favourite director is Mel Damski.
- She got her first tattoo at the age of 16.
- Holly's home is decorated in a Western ranch style.
- Her favourite TV shows are The X-Files, Friends and Desperate Housewives.
- One of her favorite episodes of Charmed is 'Awakened' and she also enjoyed shooting the pilot.
- Her favourite actors are Andy Garcia, Matthew McConaughey, Courtney Love and Susan Sarandon, who played her mom in her first movie.
- She thinks the sexiest guy on The WB is Joshua Jackson.
- When Holly shared a lesbian kiss in 'Picket Fences', the episode was so controversial at the time that CBS forced the director to dim the lights during the kiss.
- She watched 'Who's the boss' (starring Alyssa Milano) religiously when she was a child/teen!
- Her favourite movies are Wild at Heart, The Matrix and Star Wars.
- Holly keeps in shape by doing Pilates and yoga.
- She had taken some pictures at Alyssa's wedding that showed up in The Star. The drugstore (where she got them developed) had sold them to the newspaper.
- She had to pay a fine as a result of Holly telling TV Guide what happened with Shannen's departure.
- Her friends say that she has those feelings that everyone takes really seriously cause she's usually right.
- She attended the Professional Children's School N.Y, where Sarah Michelle Gellar also attended. She was taught by Ernie Martin.
- Holly received a lot of hate mail when she was in the movie 'Love's Deadly Triangle' because it was based on a true story and people were scared of her.
- She prefers to be called "Holly" not "Holly Marie" because she says her mum calls her "Holly Marie" when she's mad.

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