Rachel Bilson

Rachel Sarah Bilson (born August 25, 1981) is an American actress. After
growing up in a California show business family, she made her television
debut in 2003 and subsequently became well-known for playing Summer Roberts
on the prime time drama series The O.C. Bilson made her film debut in the
2006 film The Last Kiss, appeared as Lou on the NBC show Chuck, and starred
in the 2008 action/sci-fi film Jumper.
Bilson was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Janice (née
Stango), a sex therapist, and Danny Bilson, a writer, director, and
producer. Rachel Bilson's father is Jewish and her mother is a
Philadelphia-born Italian American. Bilson's father comes from a show
business family; her great-grandfather, George Bilson, (born in Leeds,
Yorkshire, UK) was the head of the trailer department at RKO Pictures, while
her Brooklyn-born great-grandmother, Hattie Bilson, was a screenwriter and
her grandfather, Bruce Bilson, is a film director. Bilson's parents divorced
during her childhood, and in 1997, her father remarried Heather Medway, an
actress and the mother of Bilson's half-sister Hattie (born December 19,
2001).
Bilson has been noted as having a "self-destructive, rebellious period"
during her teen years. When she was 16, she and a group of her brother's
friends were involved in a car accident, a head-on collision with another
car. As a result, Bilson was unconscious for a few days, had a scar above
her right eye, and sometimes suffers from migraines and memory loss; she has
stated that the experience "changed" her, encouraging her to "stop...
getting into trouble" and stopping her from "going down that road".
Bilson graduated from Walter Reed Middle School in 1996 and from Notre Dame
High School in 1999. During her time at Notre Dame, she appeared in
productions of Bye Bye Birdie, Once Upon a Mattress and The Crucible, and
appeared on stage together with Katharine McPhee, who attended the same
school and would later be a finalist on American Idol.
Career
Bilson attended Grossmont College in San Diego, but dropped out after one
year, taking her father's advice to pursue a professional acting career and
making several appearances in commercials, including advertisements for
Subway restaurants, Raisin Bran and Pepto-Bismol. She made her screen acting
debut in early 2003, appearing in episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 8
Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, and in the short film Unbroken.
Bilson was subsequently cast in The O.C., which debuted in August 2003. Her
character, Summer Roberts, was initially intended to appear in only a few
episodes, but became a series regular after a successful run, as Bilson's
on-screen romance with Seth Cohen (Adam Brody) became a noted aspect of the
series.
As a result of the success of The O.C., Bilson has become well-known among
teenage audiences. At the 2005 Teen Choice Awards, Bilson collected three
awards: "Choice Hottie Female", "Choice TV Actress (Drama)" and "Best
Onscreen TV Chemistry" (jointly won with Adam Brody). In 2005, Maxim
magazine named her sixth in their annual "Hot 100 List"; in 2006, the
publication awarded her #14. The UK edition of FHM Magazine named her 28th
in the 2006 100 Sexiest Women in the World list, while the US Edition Ranked
her 77th in 2005. Bilson was also named one of People magazine's "100
Most Beautiful People" in 2006. In January 2008, radio host Howard Stern
named her the "hottest chick in Hollywood." In UK's FHM, Bilson was named
the 16th Sexiest Woman In The World 2008. In the US version of the same
list, she was placed at #30.
Bilson's first film role was in The Last Kiss, a romantic comedy-drama also
starring Zach Braff and Jacinda Barrett. In the film, which opened on
September 15, 2006, Bilson plays a college student who seduces Braff's
character. Bilson had long wanted to work with Braff, having admired the
film Garden State, which he directed and starred in. A body double was used
for the film's sexual scene between Bilson and Braff's characters, as Bilson
specified that she "feel[s] really strong[ly]" about not appearing in a nude
scene. One review of the film noted that Bilson played the role with
"surprising depth", although another critic described her role as "Glenn
Close in Fatal Attraction as an airhead valley girl with a hot bod".
Bilson has stated that she prefers acting in feature films to appearing on
television, and that she would like the kind of roles "that Natalie Portman
and Scarlett Johansson are offered". She has specified that though she is
"grateful" for the success of The O.C., she feels that the show "is over"
and that she is "ready to move on" to film roles.[24] In September 2006,
unconfirmed reports surfaced that Bilson was linked to star in a film
version of the comic book character Wonder Woman; Bilson has stated that
these reports were untrue. These reports spawned solely from a Wonder
Woman costume she wore in an episode of The O.C.
In late 2006, Bilson was cast in the role of Millie in Doug Liman's thriller
Jumper, as the replacement for actress Teresa Palmer; she began filming the
role in October of that year and the film was released on February 14, 2008.
Rachel also appeared in a two-episode arc on The O.C. creator Josh
Schwartz's NBC comedy, Chuck.
She appeared in a segment of the film New York, I Love You, starring
alongside Natalie Portman, Robin Wright Penn, Blake Lively and Shia LaBeouf.
In September 2008 she started shooting the indie romantic film Waiting For
Forever, directed by James Keach.
Personal life
Bilson began dating her The O.C. co-star Adam Brody in 2003. In 2004, it was
reported the two were engaged. In 2005, Brody gave Bilson a pit bull, Penny
Lane, as a birthday present. The couple later adopted another dog, Thurmen
Murmen, who now lives with Bilson. In late 2006, Bilson and Brody ended
their relationship.
Bilson has been recognized by several media sources as being a "fashion
junkie". She has described herself as having a "vintage" sense of style, and
noted Kate Moss and Diane Keaton as inspirations. Her clothes often have a
"boho" feel to them. She approached DKNY Jeans in late 2007 with a view to
design a clothing line with the popular fashion brand. Together they
created Edie Rose, named after Bilson's grandmother. The collection is set
to launch in September 2008, and will consist of 15 sportswear pieces in a
monochrome colour palette will be offset by pops of yellow, said to be
inspired by a yellow scarf Bilson owned. An advertising image was released
in July 2008 which featured Bilson modelling her Edie Rose collection.
Bilson is a basketball fan. She is a season ticket holder of the Los Angeles
Clippers.
Bilson enjoys watching television game shows, especially Jeopardy and has
stated that if she were not acting, she would be a pre-school teacher.
Her favorite designers are Stella McCartney, Zac Posen, Marc Jacobs and
Chanel. Bilson has turned down requests to appear seminude in men's
magazines, specifying that she feels that her body "is sacred" and "not
there for the whole world to see". However, she has been featured in a
pictorial in the men's magazines Stuff and GQ and has posed for mildly
salacious photographs wearing colourful underwear.
Bilson recently got engaged with Jumper co-star Hayden Christensen over the
holidays

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