Rachel Bilson

Biography

Rachel Bilson is an American actress. Born to a California show-business family, Bilson made her television debut in 2003, and then landed the role of Summer Roberts on the prime-time drama series The O.C. Bilson made her movie debut in The Last Kiss and starred in the science-fiction-action film Jumper.

Bilson was born in Los Angeles, the daughter of Janice Stango, a sex therapist, and Danny Bilson, a writer, director, and producer. She has an older brother and two younger half-sisters, Rosemary and Hattie. Her mother is an Italian-American who was raised Catholic, and her father is Jewish; she has said that she grew up in a “Chrismukkah household.”

She appeared in the 100th episode of How I Met Your Mother (“Girls Versus Suits”) as Ted Mosby’s latest love interest and the Mother’s roommate.

In September 2008, she started shooting the indie romantic film Waiting for Forever, directed by James Keach. In September 2009 Rachel appeared as a celebrity guest judge in the third episode of Project Runway (season 6). Bilson starred in the 2011 indie film L!fe Happens. In 2011, Bilson began starring in The CW series Hart of Dixie, executive produced by The O.C. creator Josh Schwartz. On May 7, 2015, the CW officially canceled the show after four seasons. In 2017, Bilson joined the cast of CMT’s Nashville which reunites her with her former The O.C. co-star Chris Carmack.

Bilson began a relationship with actor Hayden Christensen, with whom she co-starred on the film Jumper. By January 2008, the pair had been seen and photographed together around Los Angeles for almost a year, without confirming a relationship. In February 2009, Bilson appeared publicly with what seemed to be an engagement ring, though no official announcement was made. In August 2010, Bilson’s representative confirmed there had been an engagement that had since been called off, giving no other details. The two reconciled three months afterward and had a daughter in October 2014. Bilson and Christensen separated in September 2017.