Things You Might Not Know About Sophia Bush
Published on January 24, 2016. Updated June 30, 2020Sophia Bush is a talented, beautiful and varied actress who has starred in films like The Hitcher and John Tucker Must Die, but is best known for her TV roles in One Tree Hill and Chicago P.D. Her time on One Tree Hill from 2003-2012 as Brooke Davis has given her a large and loyal fanbase as she quickly became the star of the hit teen drama series after starting out as the best friend to the main female character Peyton Sawyer (Hilarie Burton). While she is not only an actress but an activist as well as a social media lover, she still manages to keep her personal life very private; however, we have dug up 11 things you may not know about Sophia Bush.
11. Lost Loved Ones
Sophia Bush is a bubbly, optimistic type of person; however, she has gone through a few tragedies in recent years. In 2011, her second-cousin Christina-Taylor Green was killed in an attempted assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona. Green, who was only nine at the time, was the youngest victim; the shooter killed six people and injured 14. From January 2013 until February 2014, Bush dated Google program manager Dan Fredinburg and he tragically died in April, 2015 in the massive Nepal earthquake while he was climbing Mount Everest. She continues to talk about the loss and memory of Dan through her social media.
Photo by Picture Perfect / Rex Features
10. Loves Sports!
Sophia Bush is often talked about in terms of her looks but, as well as being gorgeous, she is tough and athletic. In high school she was an avid volleyball player and now she also skis, rides horseback and wakeboards. One of her favorite hobbies is boxing. “I love boxing! There’s something fierce about using your body’s force that way,” she once said about the sport.
Photo by Broadimage/REX
9. Named After Sophia Loren
Bush’s parents, Charles and Maureen, named her after the extremely famous Italian movie star Sophia Loren. Bush’s father is a well-known celebrity photographer and got to know Sophia Loren after he worked with her several times for ads and photoshoots. Sophia Bush even ended up posing in some advertising shots with Sophia Loren when she was younger.
Everett Collection
8. Attended An All Girls High School
Bush grew up in Pasadena, California, and for her high school years, she attend the Westridge School for Girls where she discovered her love for acting. “Part of my school’s requirement was to do a play. I was really irritated because I wanted to play volleyball and I had to go and do this play. But there was a moment after the performance when I realized I had gone and been somebody else. I thought, ‘If I could do this for the rest of my life, I am set.’ It was like love at first sight,” she said. After high school, she went on to USC where she majored in journalism and was a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority.
Dee Cercone/Everett Collection
7. Hard-Working Activist
While many celebrities use the term activist to give themselves a better public image, Sophia Bush is one of the few who works really hard to make the world a better place. She uses her social media to bring awareness and in 2011 won the Do Something Twitter Award for helping spread the word on the cleanup of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. She is a staunch activist of many causes and attends many events, benefits and fundraisers and has often made sure making a difference takes priority in her life. “I love my job, but I couldn’t keep doing this if it ever actually precluded me from working on the world. I would just get another job.”
6. Famous Friends
While it has been a few years since One Tree Hill ended it’s nine season run, a lot of the cast has remained tight-knit including Sophia, Bevin Prince (Bevin), James Lafferty (Nathan), Danneel Ackles (Rachel), and Bethany Joy Lenz (Haley). Bush is also really close with Milo Ventimiglia (Jess from Gimore Girls) as well as Brittany Snow, who she co-starred with in John Tucker Must Die.
5. Early TV Appearances
Most fans know Bush’s breakout role to of course be Brooke Davis, but she actually appeared in a few other TV shows before making her way to One Tree Hill. In 2003 she appeared in one episode of the hit TV series Sabrina, The Teenage Witch as Fate MacKenzie and she also appeared in three episodes of Nip/Tuck as Ridley Lange. It all started, however, with her first credited role being in the movie Van Wilder: Party Liason.
4. Has Her Own Celebrity Crush
While she is bound to be a lot of people’s celebrity crush, Bush has admitted to having a couple celebrity crushes of her own on actor Javier Bardem and his wife, actress Penelope Cruz. “I think he [Javier] is pretty much the greatest, and I think that him and Penelope Cruz and their little baby, I just can’t get enough of them! I think they’re so wonderful. I kind of have a crush on the both of them, and I think it’s only gotten bigger now that they’re a unit,” she told Marie Claire.
(Photo by Valerie Goodloe/PictureGroup)
3. Cast In Terminator 3
She may have a very respectable career as a television actress, but her movie career could have been so much better had she not been replaced in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Bush was initally cast as Kate Brewster and even filmed for a whole week before she was replaced by Claire Danes. The director said he made his decision because he thought Bush was “too young” for the role.
2. OTH’s Main Star
Although the character Brooke Davis was not introduced until the second episode of One Tree Hill, she became the only character to appear in every episode since she was introduced. Sophia Bush was then the cast member who appeared in the most episodes for the entire series. Quite the accomplishment for someone who had to audition three times before creators and producers were convinced she was the right fit.
Fred Norris/ © The CW / Courtesy Everett Collection
1. Music Video Star
We’ve covered that she is a movie star, social media star and TV star but, as it turns out, Sophia Bush also starred in a music video. In 2013 Sophia starred in the music video for “Carried Away” by the band Passion Pit, which tells the story of a couple going through ups and downs in their relationship.
