Mischa Barton

Biography

Mischa Barton is a British-American film, television, and stage actress. She began her career on the stage, appearing in Tony Kushner’s Slavs! and took the lead in James Lapine’s Twelve Dreams at New York City’s Lincoln Center. She made her screen debut with a guest appearance on the American soap opera All My Children (1996), and voicing a character on the Nickelodeon cartoon series KaBlam! (1996–97).

Barton later appeared in the independent drama Lost and Delirious (2001) and guest-starred as Evan Rachel Wood’s girlfriend on ABC’s Once and Again (2001–02). She played Marissa Cooper in the Fox television series The O.C. (2003–06), for which she received two Teen Choice Awards. The role brought Barton into mainstream fame, and Entertainment Weekly named her the “It Girl” of 2003.

In 2007, while dating magician Brandon Silverfield, she made a number of guest appearances as an assistant in his Las Vegas stage show.