Summer Roberts

Summer Roberts
The O.C. character
Rachel Bilson as Summer Roberts
First appearance	"Premiere" (episode 1.01)
Last appearance	"The End's Not Near, It's Here" (episode 4.16)
Created by	Josh Schwartz
Portrayed by	Rachel Bilson
Information
Nickname(s)	Sum, Dim Sum, Caterpillar Little Miss Vixen
Aliases	Summer Roberts (maiden name) Summer Cohen (married name)
Gender	Female
Occupation	Animal rights activist High school student (at the Harbor School; graduated) College student (at Brown; graduated)
Family	Neil Roberts (father) Unnamed woman (biological mother; ambiguous) Gloria Roberts (former stepmother)
Spouse(s)	Seth Cohen (husband)
Significant other(s)	Danny (ex-boyfriend) Zach Stevens (ex-boyfriend)
Relatives	Sanford "Sandy" Cohen (father-in-law) Kirsten Cohen (mother-in-law) Sophie Rose Cohen (sister-in-law) Ryan Atwood (adoptive brother-in-law) Sophie Cohen (grandmother-in-law) Caleb Nichol (grandfather-in-law; deceased) Rose Nichol (grandmother-in-law; deceased)
Residence	Newport Beach, California

Summer Roberts Cohen is a fictional character on the FOX television series The O.C., portrayed by Rachel Bilson.

Initially Summer was only intended as a small supporting character, only there as an object of fantasy for Seth and a friend for Marissa Cooper, while Ryan Atwood and Marissa were the lead couple. However, due to Bilson's performance, Summer became an increasingly important character. Series creator Josh Schwartz said: "She was adorable and funny and smart, which was a really fresh way to go with that character. And the more we gave her to do in the first couple of episodes, the more she kept nailing. Finally, in the episode with the Tijuana road trip, we watched a scene between her and Seth in the diner and knew: This girl is amazing. Let's make her a series regular."

Summer Roberts grew up in Newport Beach, California, with her wealthy father, Dr. Neil Roberts (Michael Nouri). For much of the series, she also lived with a stepmother, named Gloria (unseen character), whom she never refers to by name, instead calling the latter "what's her name" or "the stepmonster" due to her mood swings and various addictive pills. She was often paired in scenes with her best friend, Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton), who was the leading female of the series until her death. Summer became the female lead character of the show's fourth season. During this all, she had a long lasting relationship with leading man Seth Cohen (Adam Brody). In a flash forward in The End's Not Near, It's Here, she finally marries Seth. Her character was only scheduled to appear in a few episodes, but was considered a hit, and ended up being in each of the series. Summer is, throughout the first few episodes, portrayed as a shallow, materialistic gossip who is ditzy and can have an occasional bitchy nature. Spoiled by her divorced father, she considers him to be her best friend, and his opinion matters as much, if not more than her own.