Famed The OC star, Mischa Barton, will join the new season of Neighbours, which has begun filming in Melbourne this week.
Barton is best known for her role in the iconic noughties teen drama The OC playing Marissa Cooper, alongside Adam Brody, Rachel Bilson and Peter Gallagher.
In a press release, Barton said, “I’m excited to be part of this iconic show’s next chapter, and I am really looking forward to being back in Australia — a place I know and love! I think the character of Reece is going to be a great role for me to explore and play with.”
Neighbours’ executive producer Jason Herbison said the team is “…beyond excited to have an actor of Mischa’s calibre join us for this exciting new chapter.”
“Mischa’s character is dynamic and unpredictable and will have an instant presence on Ramsay Street. Our loyal viewers are going to love her, locally and abroad.”
The latest season will see Ramsay Street fan favourites return, including Alan Fletcher as Dr Karl Kennedy, Stefan Dennis as Paul Robinson and Annie Jones as “Plain Jane Superbrain.”
The show was revived by streaming service, Amazon Freevee, just three months following its cancellation in 2021 after 37 years. It will air on Amazon Freevee later this year.
Barton has been in and out of the limelight since leaving The OC when it ended in 2007 after just four seasons.
For many years, Barton was embroiled in a legal battle against her ex, Jon Zacharias, who attempted to sell copies of a sex tape of her for US$500,000. In 2017, she won the lawsuit against Zacharias, telling reporters outside the courthouse, “This is a painful situation and my absolute worst fear was realised when I learned that someone that I thought I loved and trusted was filming my most intimate and private moments, without my consent, with hidden cameras.”
“And then I learned something even worse, that someone is trying to sell these videos and make them public,” she said.
Throughout the years, she has publicly shared her struggle with depression, disordered eating, and PTSD. In a 2013 interview with People, she revealed the scrutiny she received about her body.
“When you’re 16, you’re not what you are at 25,” Barton said. “I was really young and had not filled out at all. Not everybody stays the same body type.”
“It was always, ‘She’s too skinny, she must be sick.’ Then it was, ‘She’s too big.’ I was never the right weight.”
“You can only take so much before it affects you, people giving you sideways looks on the street.”
In 2019, she was cast in the first season of the MTV reboot of The Hills series The Hills: New Beginnings, starring alongside Pamela Anderson’s son, Brandon Thomas Lee.
Most recently, she finished shooting the crime thriller Invitation To A Murder, playing a detective who is invited by a reclusive billionaire to a remote island, only to find herself in the middle of a murder investigation.