Rachel Bilson Biography

Date of Birth: August 25, 1981

Los Angeles-born Rachel Bilson comes from a showbiz family. Her father is writer/director/producer Danny Bilson; her grandfather is successful TV director Bruce Bilson and her great-grandfather, George Bilson was the head of the trailer department at RKO Pictures. Her great-grandmother, Hattie, was a screenwriter.

When her parents divorced, Rachel and her older brothers were brought up by her father. In high school, she became involved in school musicals, playing roles in productions such as Bye Bye Birdie, Once Upon a Mattress and The Crucible at Notre Dame High School.

At 17 she decided, with her father's encouragement, to try her luck at professional acting. She began with commercials for products such as Raisin Bran and Pepto-Bismol, but it wasn't until she was 21 that her career took off like a shot. She landed guest appearances on 8 Simple Rules.for Dating My Teenage Daughter and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and played a starring role in the short film Unbroken (2003). Just before her 22nd birthday, Bilson auditioned for a new TV series called The O.C. and wound up playing a supporting role as teenaged Summer Roberts-the rich, snobby crush of one of the lead characters, Seth Cohen.

Her character was so popular that during the first season, she became a series regular, with the writers softening her character to become more likeable, and having her eventually fall in love with Seth. Bilson immediately became well-known and began appearing on talk shows and on magazine covers. She has won three Teen Choice awards for her work on the show, and since its debut, has parodied her O.C. role on an episode of Mad TV (with co-stars Adam Brody and Ben McKenzie) and made her feature film debut opposite Zach Braff in The Last Kiss (2006).

Her background is Eastern European/Jewish on her father's side and Italian on her mother's side. She currently stars as the lead role in the TV series Hart of Dixie . Some of the titles to her credit include Waiting for Forever (2011), Life Happens (2012) and The To Do List.(2013)

Filmography:

The To Do List (2013) Life Happens (2012) New York, I Love You (2009) Jumper (2008) The Last Kiss (2006)