‘Beverly Hills, 90210’ Cast Members Remember Shannen Doherty
Beverly Hills, 90210 and its cast of telegenic teen stars defined the 1990s. The iconic primetime soap focused on “typical” California high school kids dealing with some serious drama: infidelity, teen pregnancy, abortion, STDs, suicide, divorce, family secrets, and eating disorders.
The show was popular enough to launch both the next-generation spin-off 90210 in 2008 and the meta-revival BH90210 in 2019, proof that love for the Peach Pit gang endures even as the actors behind Brenda, Brandon, and the rest have moved on from fictional high school drama to real-life middle-aged conundrums and tragedies.
Shannen Doherty (Brenda Walsh)
Shannen Doherty grew up on the tube, starting with a role on Little House on the Prairie at age 11. In 1988, she made a splash on the big screen with the cult teen classic Heathers, eventually bringing about her lead role on 90210. Her character, Brenda Walsh, might have been demure, but Doherty eventually got axed from 90210 in 1994 for her diva-ish antics.
Ironically, she teamed up with 90210 producer Aaron Spelling on another hit, Charmed, only to get booted off that show for more co-star conflicts, this time with Alyssa Milano. After years of publicity-worthy incidents like writing bad checks, jail time for drunk driving, and the honor of being the first eliminated on season 10 of Dancing with the Stars, Doherty delivered the sobering diagnosis of breast cancer in 2015. Not all the news was bad, as she enjoyed a 12-year marriage with celebrity photographer Kurt Iswarienko before they divorced and gamely joined the old crew for the 2019 series.
Although Doherty’s cancer was in remission by 2017, it returned two years later, and the actor shared she had metastatic stage 4 cancer in 2020. Despite treatment, the cancer reached her brain, and Doherty died on July 13, 2024, at age 53. Many of her former co-stars publicly remembered Doherty upon hearing the news. Jason Priestley called her “a force of nature” as Tori Spelling wrote on Instagram, “She was a rebel in an era when most women didn’t feel comfortable being strong.” In her own Instagram post, Jennie Garth wrote, “We were so often pitted against each other but none of that reflected the truth of our real relationship which was one built on mutual respect and admiration.”
Jason Priestley (Brandon Walsh)
Early in his career, Canadian-American actor Jason Priestley made appearances in the ’80s TV series Airwolf, 21 Jump Street, and a flop sitcom Sister Kate before landing the lead role of Brandon Walsh on 90210. While Priestley is best known as 90210’s hunky hero, he also stepped behind the camera as a director and executive producer of the show.
In 1999, he got into a drunk driving incident and was sentenced to spend five nights in a Los Angeles detention facility and to attend a drug and alcohol abuse treatment program. He got behind the wheel again in 2002, this time to pursue his passion for race car driving, which ended when he suffered a horrific crash that broke his back and caused other injuries. After intensive physical rehab, he made a full recovery and continues to showcase his acting and directing talents in series like Private Eyes and, most recently, Wild Cards.
His 2014 tell-all-memoir revealed his less-than-flattering feelings about Doherty, his 90210 twin, though they were able to bury the hatchet for BH90210. He has two children with his wife, Naomi Lowde-Priestley.
Jennie Garth (Kelly Taylor)
Jennie Garth was an unknown quantity until 90210 catapulted her to fame as America’s sweetheart Kelly Taylor. Two years after the show’s finale, Garth hit TV gold again in the hit sitcom What I Like About You, playing big sis to Amanda Bynes. Like Doherty, Garth took a turn on Dancing with the Stars, though to greater success. She reached the semifinals in 2007.
Garth met her husband Peter Facinelli when they co-starred in the 1996 TV movie An Unfinished Affair. The couple had three daughters before divorcing in 2013. Garth has since remarried Dave Abrams. The actor also has an autobiography to her name, 2014’s Deep Thoughts From a Hollywood Blonde, and has headlined CMT’s Jennie Garth: A Little Bit Country and HGTV’s The Jennie Garth Project as part of a lengthy list of reality TV credits.
Luke Perry (Dylan McKay)
Luke Perry was rejected from over 200 auditions until landing roles on the soaps Loving in 1987 and Another World the following year. As 90210’s bad boy and loner Dylan McKay, Perry was constantly compared to the legendary James Dean and became an iconic ’90s heartthrob.
Perry went on to have quite an eclectic career, appearing in movies like The Fifth Element, TV shows like HBO’s Oz, and even doing Broadway in drag as Brad in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Perry was still on the upswing when he landed the role of Fred Andrews, Archie’s beloved father, on Riverdale. Offscreen, Perry divorced his wife Minnie Sharp in 2003 with whom he had a son and daughter. Sadly, he died of a massive stroke in early 2019 at age 52.
Tori Spelling (Donna Martin)
Donna Martin a.k.a Tori Spelling a.k.a. the daughter of 90210 producer Aaron Spelling grew up making cameos on several of her dad’s shows, including Vega$, T.J. Hooker, and The Love Boat. (Daddy Spelling also produced the 90210 spin-off Melrose Place.) After 90210, Tori became a TV movie queen, and that’s when her real life took a plot turn worthy of one of her onscreen dramas.
Spelling left her husband of two years, writer/actor Charlie Shanian, for Dean McDermott, her co-star in the Lifetime movie Mind Over Murder. Spelling and McDermott turned family life into reality TV stardom with various iterations of their Tori & Dean franchise, which included footage of their five children. But after 18 years together, Spelling filed for divorce this March, citing irreconcilable differences.
Brian Austin Green (David Silver)
Just like some of his other 90210 cast members, Brian Austin Green made his breakthrough on a soap—he played the son of Donna Mills’ character on Knots Landing before playing geeky David Silver, a student turned DJ turned musician. In 1996, during the show’s run, Green released a hip-hop album, One Stop Carnival. His hip-hop career never took off, but he continued to act, nabbing leading roles on series like Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Wedding Band, and Charlie Sheen’s Anger Management.
Green has also made headlines for his love life: He has a son with ex Vanessa Marcil before having three children with wife Megan Fox. Green and Fox ultimately didn’t go the distance, and their divorce was finalized in February 2022. By that time, the 90210 alum had found love again, this time with professional dancer Sharna Burgess. The engaged couple competed on Dancing with the Stars Season 30 together, co-host the Oldish podcast with Randy Spelling, and welcomed a son, Green’s fifth, in June 2022.
Ian Ziering (Steve Sanders)
Beverly Hills, 90210 was really the beginning of Ian Ziering’s acting career, playing the show’s resident jock/frat boy Steve Sanders. After the show ended, Ziering’s TV fame stalled as did his marriage to 1997 Playboy Playmate Nikki Schieler. But he made a solid comeback on season 4 of Dancing with the Stars in 2007, his smooth moves leading him all the way to the semifinals.
In 2013, Ziering made a risky-yet-genius career move, starring in the made-for-TV disaster movie, Sharknado, about killer sharks taking over Los Angeles. What could have been a killer flop became a killer hit, with Ziering reprising his role of hero Fin Shepard for a boatload of Sharknado sequels.
The actor separated from his second wife, Erin Ludwig, in October 2019 before they finalized their divorce three years later. The pair has two daughters. One of his kids was with him on New Year’s Eve in 2023 when they were attacked by a group of people on minibikes. Neither was seriously injured, and this May, two people were arrested in connection to the incident.
Gabrielle Carteris (Andrea Zuckerman)
Gabrielle Carteris, the oldest of the 90210 gang, was closing in on 30 while playing 16-year-old smarty Andrea Zuckerman. The Sarah Lawrence College grad began her acting career in the ’80s on the soap opera Another World. She decided to leave 90210 in 1995 for her own daytime talk show, but it got nixed after one season.
Over the years, Carteris has surfaced in TV movies, delivered voice-over work for video games, and appeared in reality series like The Surreal Life. Carteris has also devoted herself to union work, satirizing her real-life role as president of SAG-AFTRA in BH90210. She has two daughters with her longtime husband, Charles Isaacs.
Watch The Unauthorized Beverly Hills, 90210 Story on Lifetime Movie Club
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