Mischa Barton

Mischa Barton

Mischa Anne Marsden Barton (born January 24, 1986) is, not only a repeat paparazzi target because her past high-profile relationships (Brandon Davis, Cisco Adler), friends (Nicole Richie), and feuds (Paris Hilton, Nicky Hilton), but she is also an actress with dreams of cultivating a serious acting career. This English-born star quickly advanced in the celebrity ranks when she was cast in the Fox’s surprise and cultish hit melodrama, “The O.C.” playing Marissa Cooper, a spoiled rich girl with a drinking problem who falls for the boy from the wrong side of the tracks (played by Benjamin McKenzie).

During her reign, she also managed to attend various drama schools, starred in a few independent movies, did some intermittent modeling and became the face of the Keds shoe line and the Bebe clothing line. After her character in “The O.C.” was killed off in the show’s fourth season, she has tried to make the move to serious actress, garnering more substantial acting roles in her upcoming movies, Virgin Territory with Hayden Christensen and Tim Roth, and Closing the Ring with Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer.

Early Life and Education

Born in Hammersmith, London, England, to an English father, Paul Marsden Barton, and an Irish mother, Nuala Quinn, Barton immigrated with her family to New York City when she was only four years old. She has an older sister, Zoe Barton, who is a London Barrister, and a younger sister, Hania Barton, who is currently a student in Los Angeles. While she was still acting in various projects, Barton managed to graduate from the Professional Children's School in Manhattan in 2004, and attended a summer school in Shakespearean acting at the world famous, elite drama school, RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts) in summer 2006. Barton finally became naturalized as a citizen of the United States in Los Angeles on February 3, 2006.

Early Career

Barton’s first taste of acting came at the tender age of nine in New York, when she got the lead role in Slavs!, written by Tony Kushner. From there, she acted in several Broadway plays, including landing the lead role in James Lapine's Twelve Dreams at Lincoln Center. Barton made her big screen film debut in Lawn Dogs in 1997, with Sam Rockwell, which went onto win awards at several film festivals around the world.

During this time in her burgeoning film career, she was represented by long time friend and mentor Ivan Bart of IMG Models New York, and she was featured in numerous television commercials and print advertising campaigns around the world.

Barton first appeared on television in 1996, as a younger Lily Montgomery in “All My Children.” Two years later she starred in the film Pups a modern re-make of Bonnie and Clyde. She also had a one-time appearance in the FOX show “Fastlane,” and appeared in music videos for the song “Goodbye My Lover” by James Blunt and the Enrique Iglesias music video, “Addicted.”

Since her debut, she has appeared in several films, including The Sixth Sense, with Bruce Willis, Notting Hill, with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant and Lost and Delirious, in 2001.

In 2002, she played in eight episodes on the television show “Once and Again” as Katie Singer, Jessie Sammler's (Evan Rachel Wood's) girlfriend.

Adult Acting Career: Breaking Out

Her breakout role came to her in 2003, when she won one of the lead roles in the television show, “The O.C.,” produced by McG. Barton was cast as the tragic Marissa Cooper, a beautiful and popular teenager of Newport Beach, California who is neglected by her rich parents, given anything she wants, and ends up developing an alcohol problem. The story revolved around her relationships with on/off boyfriend Ryan Atwood, her rich and neglectful mother Julie Cooper, and her friends and acquaintances in Newport. Barton's character was killed off after three seasons after her character died in a drunk driving accident.

It was reported that months before she was written off the show, Mischa was getting tired of playing the character. It was reported in Life & Style magazine in early 2006 that it was apparent that she was getting tired of the show, and she wasn’t taking work seriously: she would frequently call in sick or show up late to the show.

Following her departure from The O.C., she completed three films which are set to be release in 2007. Lord Richard Attenboroughs' Closing the Ring, alongside Shirley Maclaine and Brenda Fricker, the Dino de Laurentiis Production Virgin Territory with Hayden Christensen and Tim Roth and an independent feature Don't Fade Away, with Beau Bridges. She is also in line to work on the feature films Radio-Active by Ash Baron-Cohen, Walled In to be directed by Sylvain White and Malice in Sunderland.

Modeling Career

Barton, a veteran of countless magazine covers worldwide, and a favorite in fashion circles, has modeled for Calvin Klein and appeared in advertisements for Aéropostale, Monsoon Accessorize, Dooney & Bourke, JC (Jeans and Clothes), Morgan de Toi, Jaspal, Neutrogena skincare products, and Bebe clothing line. She has more recently become the spokesperson for Keds Sneakers, substantially increasing sales. In Australia, she appears in commercials for gossip magazine Famous and was the guest of honor at retail giant David Jones Tahitian Summer Collection launch.

It was also reported that Barton spent six days in Australia and made approximately $100,000.00 a day to go. In Australia she is more famous for her fashion sense, and she was brought to Australia to do a fashion shoot. On top of the estimated $700,000 she has earned, Barton, also took home about $100,000 worth of designer frocks and accessories.
In one day alone, she pocketed an estimated $500,000 for lolling about one of Sydney's most lavish homes during a top-secret advertising shoot.

Personal Life

Barton became a tabloid favorite early on when she began dating oil-heir Brandon Davis. They broke up is May of 2005 – many sources site his heavy-partying as the cause of their split. She went onto date Cisco Adler, who is in the band Whitestarr and who was previously engaged to Kimberly Stewart. The relationship created a fued between Barton and Stewart, and subsequently also created a fued between Barton and Stewart’s best friends, Paris Hilton and Nicky Hilton.

Page six reported in February of 2006 that at a birthday party of one of Nicky Hilton’s friends, Barton was in attendance and apparently not invited: “Hilton met Barton [Davis] with the ever amicable greeting: [and said] ‘What is that fat pig doing here?’” referring to Barton.

Barton responded later to the comment in the press by saying: “I met her one or two times and she's making out there's this big rivalry between us and there so isn't… She, [Paris Hilton] seems to hate everyone around her age who is more successful.”

In August of 2006, she was also reported to have been seen cheating on Adler with a Rugby player named Mark Robinson in the United Kingdom – where she was living when taking classes at the famed drama school Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. An onlooker at the party tells British newspaper the News Of The World, "Mark couldn't believe his luck. One minute they were standing there talking and the next they were all over each other in the corner of the tent. They were snogging (kissing) and running their hands over each other's bodies. They didn't seem to care who saw."

On February 9, 2007, it was reported that Barton and her boyfriend, Cisco Adler officially “decided to part ways," says the actress' rep. "Mischa is moving east soon and they both have very demanding schedules."