Rachel Bilson was born and raised in Los Angeles, to Janice
(Stango) and Danny Bilson. Her father is Ashkenazi Jewish and her mother is of
Italian descent. She began acting while still at Notre Dame High School. She
graduated high school in 1999 and went to Grossmont College but dropped out
after a year and was encouraged to pursue a career in acting by her father,
himself a writer, director and producer.
She worked in commercials and landed a few one-off roles in
high profile TV shows before landing the part of Summer Roberts in the hit TV
series The O.C. (2003), establishing herself as a household name.
