Rose is the second-eldest of six children (plus two half-siblings), daughter of Terri, a French-American writer, and Daniel McGowan, an Irish-born American artist. Through her father's art contacts in Italy, Rose became a child model and appeared in Vogue Bambini and various other Italian magazines. Her parents returned to the United States when she was 10, when they divorced. Rose did not speak English until she moved to the U.S. Her formative years were spent with her father in Seattle, Washington, attending Roosevelt High School and Nova Alternative High School. She pursued a possible career in the film industry during her late teens, and also enrolled in a beauty school as a back-up. 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 black 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. Notably, she also starred in the 1999 comedy Jawbreaker, where she played a high school student who tries to cover up a classmate's murder. That 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 Shannen Doherty's departure from the show. She was offered to be a producer after the seventh season, but turned it down. In 2005, she lent her voice to the video game Darkwatch as a femme fatale named Tala. The game was published by Capcom for PlayStation 2 and Xbox. She's donc various of movies since then. Rose also does modelling work. She was the face of American clothing company Bebe from 1998 to 1999. She was also the cover model for the Henry Mancini tribute album Shots in the Dark, which was released in 1996. In addition to clothing endorsements, Rose has appeared on numerous magazine covers, and she has also frequently been featured on Maxim, FHM and Stuff magazine's sexiest women lists. Rose is also known as an activist for Boston Terriers. She herself has two, Bug and Fester, and has personally donated to various Boston rescues.

Rose used to live in Seattle, Washington, but currently resides in Los Angeles, California. She was in a very public three and a half-year relationship with rock musician Marilyn Manson, and famously appeared with him at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards wearing a nearly transparent fishnet dress. She later ended their two-year engagement over "lifestyle differences." Prior to the release of Grindhouse, there was speculation that Rose was dating married Mexican-American director Robert Rodriguez. In May 2007, it was reported that they confirmed their relationship while appearing hand-in-hand at the Cannes Film Festival. On October 12, 2007 it was announced by Zap2it.com that Rose was engaged to Rodriguez. Of her acting method, she has said "I'm not really one of those people who goes and writes some big backstory and agonizes over characters... For me personally, it's just kind of more instinctive. But I don't have kind of an acting background. I fell into it accidentally". In the past, Rose has also been singing, and she has expressed interest in recording an album of her own. Hopefully, she will!

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Trivia

- Rose was born in a barn with the assistance of a 89-year old midwife, who was blind.
- She was raised in a cult called 'The Children of God', the same cult the Phoenix's were part of. Rose's father ran the Italian chapter.
- Her favorite living actors are Jessica Lange, Susan Sarandon, Reese Witherspoon, Toni Collette, Julianne Moore, Clive Owen, Will Ferrell, Kevin Spacey and Tom Cruise.
- She handcuffed herself to the Denver capital building for a 'Save the Whales' campaign when she was 9 years old.
- Rose loves singing and writes her own music. She dreams of releasing her own album some day. She's addicted to karaoke and has her own karaoke machine.
- She changed schools often as a child as her family rarely stayed long in one place. In some cities she would be popular while in others she was constantly picked on.
- Her weirdest fan experience? "Probably a 65-year-old cab driver stopping the car and turning around to hug me in New York."
- She suffers from agoraphobia, an anxiety disorder.
- At the age of 14 she was locked up in a drug-rehab clinic because of her appearance, although she had not done drugs at that time. She hated it, ran away and was homeless for a year.
- She knows a fair amount about Jeffery Dahmer and other serial killers.
- The day she arrived in Los Angeles, at age 19, she learned that her boyfriend, who had just moved there, had been murdered.
- She prefers gay and lesbian clubs, where the music's better and no one's going to hit on her. Infact Rose refers to gay people as "my people".
- When she's very sad she likes to play Pat Benatar's cover of Kate Bush's song Wuthering heights. Repeatedly: The Journey over and over.
- She considers Julianne Moore a hero of hers. "When I get depressed and I'm stuck in a certain place, I think about how she busted out in her very late thirties. She's an amazing talent and crazy beautiful."
- Her favorite Charmed episodes are The Power Of Three Blondes and Charmed Noir.
- Her least favorite Oh My Goddess; "Because the outfits were awful. We look Greek, so I look like I'm wearing a toga. Secondly, I just didn't like it." She also disliked Nymphs Just Want To Have Fun.
- She was very close to Johnny Ramone, who died of cancer in 2004. "He's one of the loves of my life."
- She is fascinated by the 1930s era. 
- As a child, she was sleepwalking. "The weirdest spot I ever woke up was a snow bank in Montreal. Now I just speak Italian in my sleep.”
- She refuses to eat lamb, pork, rabbit, or fish. She really hates fish. "My dad used to try and shove salmon down my mouth and I refused to eat it. That was no way to get me to eat it."
- Before going to bed she watches Cold Case Files or City Confidential and during the day, its Dr Phil. "I'm not kidding, I love some Dr Phil. He cracks me up."
- She dreams of being a museum curator. She hates the way so many museums have become archaic and unfriendly to younger people and dreams of opening them up so that people can connect to the art within.
- She enjoys knitting, gardening and baking.
- Her favorite singer is Patsy Cline. She knows every song by heart.
- She oves Margaret Mitchell's book Gone With The Wind and identifies with Scarlett. She also reads Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead annually.
- If she could make a perfect boyfriend in a laboratory she's whip up a mixture of Cary Grant, Robert Mitchwm and Napoleon, the latter of whom she was obsessed with while growing up.
- She once jumped out of a cake on Marilyn Manson's birthday.
- On her 21st birthday she drank too much champagne and was rushed to the hospital with alcohol poisoning.
- She loves living in Los Angeles. "I wish the people that say they hate it would just go away, because I need their parking space."
- Her favorite website is cuteoverload.com.
- Early 2007, Rose had car accident, riding as a passenger. Her car was struck by another and the force of the impact drove her eyeglasses into her face; "I didn't realize I was hurt until I put my hand to my face and felt the flap of skin. My glasses had sliced me under my eye." After obtaining the services of a plastic surgeon, she’s reported to be suffering no long-lasting consequences from the incident.

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