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 dramedy series The O.C.. Bilson made her film debut in the 2006 film The Last Kiss and will star as Millie in Doug Liman's 2008 thriller Jumper.

Biography

Early life

Bilson was born in Los Angeles, California to a Jewish American father (writer/director/producer Danny Bilson) and a Philadelphia-born Italian American mother, Janice Stango. 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 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 sixteen, 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,

Career

Bilson attended a college in San Diego, but dropped out after one year, taking her father's advice to pursue a professional acting career 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, Bilson was also named one of the "50 Most Beautiful People" in 2006 People magazine.
Bilson's first film role is in the 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 "feels really strongly" 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 feels that the show "is over" and that she is "ready to move on" to film roles. In September of 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.
On October 16 2006, news emerged that Bilson has signed on for the role of Millie in Doug Liman's upcoming thriller Jumper, as the replacement for Teresa Palmer; Bilson began filming the role soon after.Rachel Bilson Is A Jumper CinemaBlend October 16, 2006. The film is scheduled for a February 2008 release.

Personal life

Bilson began dating her The O.C. co-star, Adam Brody, in 2003. In 2005, Brody gave Bilson a pit bull dog, Penny Lane, as a birthday gift, and the couple later adopted another dog, named Thurmen Murmen. In 2004, several sources reported that Brody and Bilson were engaged, although Bilson's publicist denied the report. In September of 2006, several media sources made unconfirmed claims that Bilson and Brody's relationship may soon end, citing Bilson's friendship with her Last Kiss co-star, Zach Braff, as the reason for the relationship's end. In November 2006, the two ended their relationship.
Bilson has volunteered with the Young storytellers program. She has been recognized by several media sources as being a "fashion junkie" and a "style icon".
According to an infamous advertisement for Channel 4, her favorite curse word is "shitface".