Mischa Barton
Occupation : Actress
Birth Date : January 24, 1986
Birth Place : London, England, UK
Birth Name : Mischa Anne Barton
Nationality : British, American (dual Citizenship)
Height : 5' 7''
Sex : F
Education : Professional Children's School in Manhattan
Relationship : Cisco Adler (Whitestarr frontman; engaged November 2005); Johnny Wujek (celeb stylist; reportedly dating spring 2005), Brandon Davis (heir to grandfather Marvin Davis' billion dollar oil fortune; actor; dated 2003-July 12, 2005)
Mother : Nuala Barton
Sister : Hania Barton (actress; born on February 18, 1988), Zoe Barton
Claim to fame : Plays girl-next-door Marissa Cooper on Fox's teen drama The O.C.
Mischa Anne Barton was born in London, England, on January 24th, 1986, to an English father and Irish mother. By the time she was 4 years old, the family moved to New York City, where her father continued to work in the world of finance.
This allowed Mischa to have a privileged upbringing, which consisted of traveling across the globe and sampling the best things in life. She grew up with American values that often made her clash with her parents; they hadn't yet adjusted to the culture shock. Nevertheless, the Bartons were always a tight family.
At the age of 8, Mischa and one of her two sisters were sent to summer camp. One of the activities involved the children writing their own monologues and performing them for their parents. Mischa wrote a piece about turtles and her delivery was so impressive that an agent who was scouting for talent told her parents they had a star on their hands.
Her parents were thrilled of course, but at the same time wondered if it was an appropriate path for their daughter. When she was 9 and in the fifth grade, Mischa decided that it was something she definitely wanted to try.
She got her start after auditioning for the lead role in Tony Kushner's play, Slavs!. Since the part required her to have a Russian accent, she got herself an acting coach to master it. Not only did she get the role but she also got to share the stage with future Oscar winner Marisa Tomei.
Mischa's rave reviews led to other theatrical productions such as James Lapine's Twelve Dreams, which was produced at the celebrated Lincoln Center, and Where the Truth Lies and One Flea Spare, which were both part of the New York Shakespeare Festival.
Doing theater was rewarding but Barton was hungry for more. In 1994, she became a recurring character on the long-running ABC soap opera All My Children, a job she held for a year. But in the meantime, her beauty was also attracting interest.
Before she had entered her teens, Barton was signed to the Ford Modeling Agency. In that capacity, she modeled in a Calvin Klein campaign and worked for the likes of Gitano and Vogue. Mischa admits that the work is difficult but very rewarding, since "it's every teenager's dream."
But it was Barton's acting skills that gave her the most recognition. One of her first feature film roles was in 1997's Lawn Dogs, opposite Sam Rockwell. In 1999, she appeared in Pups, a modern take on Bonnie & Clyde; the summer hit Notting Hill, with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant; and the international Bruce Willis blockbuster The Sixth Sense, in which she played a young ghost seeking reparation.
For the next couple of years, Barton appeared with Jennifer Jason Leigh and Drew Barrymore in Skipped Parts (2000), co-starred with Jessica Alba in Paranoid (2000), starred alongside Melanie Griffith and Dominique Swain in Tart (2001), appeared with Courtney Love and Lili Taylor in Julie Johnson (2001), and starred in Lost and Delirious (2001), a film that explored lesbianism at a private boarding school.
Barton demonstrated her talents once more as she returned to television with a recurring role in the critically-acclaimed ABC show Once and Again during its 2001-2002 season. In 2003, she acted with Madeleine Stowe in the horror thriller, Octane.
But what is sure to make her popular to millions for years to come, is her role in the new FOX television show, The O.C. In this primetime melodrama geared toward young adults -- a Beverly Hills, 90210 clone as some have branded it -- Mischa portrays a wealthy and popular Orange County high school student who has difficulty adjusting to her surroundings.
Although she still attends Manhattan's Professional Children's School, the extraordinary popularity of her new TV show guarantees that we haven't seen the last of Mischa Barton. In addition to being the subject of magazine pictorials, she's currently appearing in Neutrogena print ads and the new Enrique Iglesias video "Addicted," which sure helps us get our fix
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