Mischa Barton

Actress and model Mischa Barton played poor-little-rich-girl Marissa Cooper in the popular television series The O.C.. Barton was born in the United Kingdom, moved to New York as a child and began acting and modelling before she was in her teens. In the late '90s she began getting TV and movie roles, including a small role (as the poisoned girl) in M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense (1999, starring Bruce Willis). She had the lead role in the adolescent love story Lost and Delirious (2001) and appeared in several episodes of TV's Once and Again, but it was The O.C. that made her a star. Between 2003 and 2006 she worked on the series and as a model for clothing and cosmetics companies. Barton's character, Marissa, was killed in a car accident at the end of the third season -- a plot point the actress inadvertently revealed prior to the episode's airing. Since leaving the series, she has focused on modelling and a career in films.