10 Actors Who Can't Catch A Break
4. Mischa Barton
When Mischa Barton walked away from teen drama The O.C in its third season to pursue a big screen career, you wouldn’t have bet against her. She was arguably the show’s breakout star, certainly became its biggest name, and seemed to have the world at her feet.
It’s safe to say it hasn’t gone to plan for the former Marissa Cooper. Things started well enough with a marquee role in the revived St. Trinian’s movie, but as far as commercial prospects go, that’s probably as good as things got for the actress, which tells you everything you need to know.
2010 indie noir Assassination Of A High School President was a seriously good film, but financial issues ruined its distribution. From there, she has appeared in little of note. The name recognition is still there and she tends to land starring roles, but these are straight-to-streaming genre flicks you’ve never heard of with titles like L.A Slasher and Ouija House.
Barton is now a cast member of reality TV show The Hills: New Beginnings, which can’t have been quite what she had in mind when she walked away from southern California the first time.