Hilarie Burton

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

Early life
Hilarie Ross Burton was born on July 1, 1982 in Sterling, Virginia, United States. Her father, James William "Bill" Burton (b. 1947), is a veteran of the U.S. Army, and her mother, Lisa Kay (Blankers; b. 1960), is a real estate agent originally from Minnesota. Burton's parents married in 1981. She is the eldest of four children, with three brothers. 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. She attended New York University from Fordham University, graduating in 2004.

Media personality
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. 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.

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.

Acting and producing
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. 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. In May 2007 she was ranked #77 in Maxim's "Hot 100 List of 2007". 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 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. 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. 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. She was upgraded to a series regular in 2011 for the third season, but switched back to the recurring cast in the fourth season. 2012 saw Burton guest-starring on the ABC police comedy-drama Castle (season 4, episode 13) as a reality television star who is accused of murder. Next came a recurring role in the ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy for the final three episodes of the 2013 ninth season, as Dr. Lauren Boswell. That fall, Burton had a recurring role on the short-lived CBS drama Hostages. Burton reunited with One Tree Hill co-star Tyler Hilton for a recurring role on CBS sci-fi drama Extant in 2015. Burton appeared as the DEA agent love interest of main character Martin Riggs on Lethal Weapon from the seventh episode of the first season in 2016 through the third episode of the second season in 2017.

In November 2017, Burton spoke out in light of charges that One Tree Hill creator Mark Schwahn had sexually harassed some of the female crew, alleging that she had also been sexually harassed by Schwahn.

Burton guest-starred in the tenth season of The Walking Dead as Negan's wife Lucille, appearing alongside her real-life husband Jeffrey Dean Morgan who plays Negan.

Since 2021, Burton has been a co-host on the Drama Queens podcast along with her former One Tree Hill co-stars, Sophia Bush and Bethany Joy Lenz.

Writing
On May 5, 2020, Burton published her first non-fiction book, The Rural Diaries: Love, Livestock, and Big Life Lessons Down on Mischief Farm.

She published her memoir, Grimoire Girl: A Memoir of Magic and Mischief, on April 25, 2023.

Personal life
During her time on One Tree Hill, Burton resided in Wilmington, North Carolina, where the show was filmed.

Burton began dating Jeffrey Dean Morgan in 2009, after being introduced by Jensen and Danneel Ackles. Their first child, a son, was born in March 2010, and their second child, a daughter, was born in February 2018. Morgan and Burton married on October 5, 2019, in a ceremony officiated by Jensen Ackles.

She has been candid on social media about their struggle to conceive, stating that it took five years to successfully carry a second baby to term. Subsequently, she has spoken out publicly in support of abortion rights after the Supreme Court decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization that overturned Roe v. Wade, stating: "This is my child. My beloved. My daughter. It is no secret I struggled with infertility. Losing multiple pregnancies before her was traumatic. But female bodies are all different and unpredictable. Having an abortion after my fetus died allowed for my uterus to heal in a way that made it healthy enough to carry future pregnancies. It doesn't matter if you use the term D&C. The official word on the hospital paperwork is abortion. That's what it was."

Even though the show One Tree Hill was filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina, Burton has family there as well. Throughout the years she has been an advocate for the Wilmington community and the most recent example of that is her work in promoting and raising money for the film Wilmington on Fire.

Soundtrack

 * The Road Mix: Music from the Television Series One Tree Hill, Volume 3 (2007)