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"It was, you know, probably 80 degrees out in L.A., and my dad took me outside and there was snow. At the time, I thought, every kid doesn't have snow in their backyard on Christmas?"

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Daughter of legendary film and television producer Aaron Spelling (1923 - 2006), Tori Spelling has spent her entire life around the glitz and glamour of Hollywood and has worked as an actress for almost as long as she's been able to walk. Trained by an acting coach at age 6 and featuring in her father's television shows, including T.J. Hooker (1982-85), Saved by the Bell (1989-93) and Fantasy Island (1977-84), Tori has been a working actress for very nearly her entire life.

Tori Spelling has established herself as an icon in Hollywood as much for her role in multiple landmark television series as for her candidness in documenting the life of a child star turned working mom. Through her books, including #1 New York Times best-seller Stori Telling (2008), Tori has shown that being born into stardom may look fun, but it's not always easy.

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Born Into It

For Tori Spelling there was no period of "breaking into the business." When your father is the producer behind Dynasty (1981-89), Charlie's Angels (1976-81), The Love Boat (1977-86), and Hart to Hart (1979-84), it's safe to say that you have a friend in the industry. 

"In all honesty, I grew up a certain way. I never had to worry about money... that was my reality." Tori's charmed life has earned the actress her share of both admiration and criticism. It's hard not to be jealous of someone who grew up in a California mansion who was known to spend around $50,000 a day at Beverly Hills boutiques in her teens and twenties (these habits being the reason she inherited only $800,000 of her father's vast fortune), but Spelling has grown from her early "Hollywood brat" experiences into a unique and bold voice in the celebrity landscape, showing us that even the rich and famous experience work-life balance challenges and squabbles with mom and dad. Plenty of children have been given the opportunities in life that Tori Spelling has lucked into, but not all of them grew up to be Tori Spelling.

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"People are always saying that Hollywood messes up kids. I'm like no, families mess up kids!"

Beverly Hills And Beyond

It's fair to say that Tori Spelling was a "child actress" but never really a "child star," mostly featuring in one-off bit parts across various sitcoms and soap operas. Her breakout role came with Beverly Hills 90210 (1990-2000), where, at seventeen years old, she was cast as Donna Martin, first featuring as a supporting character, as Kelly Taylor's best friend, but eventually growing into a full-fledged main character, as capable of carrying a storyline as any other character on the show. Fans may remember one episode sparking the catchphrase "Donna Martin graduates!" referencing a student protest to allow Donna to graduate following a drinking incident at the senior prom.

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While legend has it that Spelling's casting on 90210 was another instance of a young actress getting by on her famous father's name, what many don't know is that Tori actually used a pseudonym at her audition to hide her identity, ensuring that she would be cast on her own merits as an actress, and not simply because Aaron Spelling was producing the series. As Tori herself puts it: "My reality is the misconceptions about me."

After launching into stardom as Donna Martin, Spelling would go on to feature in a number of made-for-TV movies throughout the early and mid-nineties, including  Co-Ed Call Girl (1992) and Mother, May I Sleep with Danger? (1996), where she would survive the advances of an obsessed stalker. Spelling became an iconic face of the 1990's, and it is difficult to imagine what television might have looked like in that decade without her. In film, Spelling would feature in a number of independent films like The House of Yes (1997), and make her major studio feature debut in Scream 2 (1997) playing herself with the clever twist that she had been cast as Sidney Prescott in a film based on the events of the first movie.

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Spelling has remained active on screen, returning to her role as Donna Martin in 90210 (2009), the 00's reboot of the original series, and featuring in The Last Sharknado: It's About Time (2018), as well as producing and starring in BH90210 (2019), the 2010's relaunch of the classic drama, but she is known today as much for her writing as for her acting. Through her books sTORI TELLING (2008), Mommywood (2009), UNCHARTED TERRITORI (2019), CelebraTORI (2012), and Spelling It Like It Is (2013), Tori has comprehensively documented the life of a working mom in Hollywood, proving that parenting isn't easy, even for a celebrity.

"I'm so blessed to have as many jobs that I have, but I do agree that there needs to be some downtime."