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RACHEL BILSON BIOGRAPHY |
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Rachel Sarah Bilson (born August 25, 1981)is an
American actress. After making her screen debut in several 2003
television programs, Bilson became well-known for her role of
Summer Roberts on the prime time drama series, The O.C.
Bilson was born in Los Angeles, California to an Ashkenazi
Jewish American father (writer/director/producer Danny Bilson)
and an Italian American mother. Her father comes from a
showbusiness family, as her great-grandfather, George Bilson,
was the head of the trailer department at RKO Pictures, while
her great-grandmother, Hattie, 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
to Heather Medway, an actress and the mother of Bilson's half
sister Hattie (born December 19, 2001).
Bilson grew up with her father's family. When she was fourteen,
she and a group of friends experienced a car accident, involving
a head-on collision with another car. As a result, Bilson has a
scar above her right eye, and sometimes suffers from Migraines
and memory loss; she has stated that the experience encouraged
her to "stop... getting into trouble". 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.
At the age of seventeen, Bilson took her father's advice to
pursue a professional acting career, and made several
appearances in commercials, including advertisements for 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 of 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. 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 91st in the
2005 100 Sexiest Women in the World list and 28th in 2006. The
US Edition Ranked her 77th in 2005. 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). Bilson was also named one of the "50 Most
Beautiful People" in 2006 People magazine.
Her film debut will be in The Last Kiss, a romantic comedy
starring Zach Braff and Jacinda Barrett. The film is currently
scheduled for a release in October of 2006. |
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