Mischa Anne Marsden Barton (born January 24, 1986) is an English American film, television, and stage actress, perhaps best known for her role as Marissa Cooper in the American television series The O.C.
Mischa Barton was born in Hammersmith, London, United Kingdom to an Irish mother, Nuala (née Quinn), a photographer, and an English father, Paul Marsden Barton, a foreign exchange broker. She has two sisters, Hania and Zoe.[1][2] Barton moved to New York City at the age of four and became a naturalised citizen of the United States in Los Angeles on February 3, 2006. Barton graduated from the Professional Children's School in Manhattan in 2004, and attended classes at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in the summer of 2006.