Hilarie Burton

Her father, James William "Bill" Burton (born 1947), is a veteran of the U.S. Army, and her mother, Lisa Kay (Blankers; born 1960), is a real estate agent.

She is the eldest of four children, with three brothers.

She has an elder half-sister from her father's previous marriage.

Hilarie Ross Burton (born July 1, 1982), also known as Hilarie Burton Morgan, is an American actress.

Hilarie Ross Burton was born on July 1, 1982 in Sterling, Virginia.

In 2000, Burton graduated from Park View High School, where she was student council treasurer her sophomore year, vice-president her junior year, and captain of the cheerleading squad, student council president, and homecoming queen her senior year.

Burton went on to present at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards and MTV's Iced Out New Year's Eve.

Burton went on to portray herself on The WB (now The CW)'s drama series Dawson's Creek in 2002, which marked her television debut.

A former host of MTV's Total Request Live, she portrayed Peyton Sawyer on The WB/The CW drama One Tree Hill for six seasons (2003–2009).

Post One Tree Hill, Burton starred in Our Very Own, Solstice, and The List.

Burton was cast in The WB drama series One Tree Hill as Peyton Sawyer, an independent visual and musical artist and cheerleader, in April 2003.

The series premiered on September 23, 2003, and went on to be the network's top rated program of the year.

The role was considered Burton's breakout role and is her best known to date.

For her role in the series, Burton was featured on the cover of Maxim, American Cheerleader Magazine and People.

Her performance received critical praise and she earned three Teen Choice Award nominations.

She attended New York University from Fordham University, graduating in 2004.

Burton's first big break came when working as a VJ for MTV's Total Request Live (TRL).

She was supposed to be a guest commentator for one segment, but producers decided to offer her a permanent job.

In previous years, Burton ranked #2 on Femme Fatales' "The 50 Sexiest Women of 2005", and #12 on Much Music's "20 Hottest Women of 2003".

While still a One Tree Hill cast member, Burton made her feature film debut opposite Allison Janney and Cheryl Hines in the 2005 well-reviewed drama Our Very Own which centered on five small-town teenagers who dream of a better life.

Burton and her co-stars received the "Outstanding Ensemble Acting" award at the prestigious Sarasota Film Festival.

She also appeared on the cover of the November 2006 edition of Maxim with One Tree Hill co-stars Sophia Bush and Danneel Harris.

In May 2007 she was ranked #77 in Maxim's "Hot 100 List of 2007".

Burton appeared in the 2007 Lifetime drama Normal Adolescent Behavior which followed a group of friends who are in a six-way polyfidelitous relationship.

That same year, Burton co-starred in the supernatural horror film Solstice opposite Amanda Seyfried and Elisabeth Harnois.

Burton also created her own production company, Southern Gothic Production (SoGoPro) in 2007, along with Nick Gray, Kelly Tenney, James Burton, and Meg Mortimer.

In 2008, Burton appeared in both the Fox Searchlight Pictures drama The Secret Life of Bees, as the deceased mother of Dakota Fanning's character, and the limited release thriller The List.

Burton was next cast in the film Bloodworth opposite Hilary Duff and Val Kilmer, an adaptation of the novel Provinces of Night by William Gay.

In May 2009, The CW announced Burton would not be returning for the show's seventh season based on her own decision not to return, contrary to rumors she left owing to salary issues.

One Tree Hill heightened Burton's public profile.

She has also had supporting or recurring roles in television series, including her role as Sara Ellis on White Collar (2010–2013), Dr. Lauren Boswell on the ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy (2013), Molly Dawes on the ABC drama series Forever (2014), and Karen Palmer on the Fox television series Lethal Weapon (2016).

Burton is currently a co-host on the Drama Queens podcast along with her former One Tree Hill co-stars, Sophia Bush and Bethany Joy Lenz.

The film premiered after her exit from One Tree Hill, at the 2010 Santa Barbara International Film Festival, but made little money in limited release.

Burton won a recurring arc in the USA Network crime drama series White Collar in 2010 as Sara Ellis, an insurance investigator in the second season.

In October 2017, when news of the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse cases broke, Burton retweeted a 2003 video clip from TRL Uncensored in which Ben Affleck squeezed her breast on air.

This was in response to a fan tweet that quipped, "[Affleck] also grabbed Hilarie Burton-Morgan's breasts on TRL once. Everyone forgot though."

Burton replied, "I didn't forget [about it] ... I was a kid."

Affleck, who'd just publicly criticized Weinstein, subsequently responded on Twitter to apologize to Burton.

When asked about the incident a month later on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Affleck said, "I don't remember it, but I absolutely apologize for it. I certainly don't think she's lying or making it up.'"

In 2021, Burton started a podcast with One Tree Hill co-stars Sophia Bush and Bethany Joy Lenz titled Drama Queens.