Sophia Bush revealed that her journey to playing Brooke Davis on ‘One Tree Hill‘ came down to something unexpected. The actress auditioned three times for the popular teen drama, but producers kept questioning whether she looked “sexy enough” for the role.
Now, in her upcoming memoir, Bush shares how a last-minute outfit change finally helped her land the role.
Sophia Bush Reveals Why Her First Two Auditions Failed
In her forthcoming memoir, ‘And I Will Tell You Mine‘, Sophia Bush opens up about the casting process for Brooke Davis, the popular party girl and cheerleader on One Tree Hill. Interestingly, the actress was more worried about her clothes than her performance. “My biggest nightmare wasn’t memorizing lines or how I’d play a cheer captain. It was choosing what to wear,” she writes.
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For her first audition at Warner Bros. Studios, Bush picked a tight pink T-shirt, a short white skirt, and chunky heels decorated with rainbows. She considered the outfit a perfect “teenage dream costume” for Brooke. The audition went well, and she even made the executives laugh. However, her manager later received some unexpected feedback.
“We love her,” the executives explained, “but we aren’t sure she’s… sexy enough?”. They invited her back for another attempt. Bush then tried a more mature look, describing it as “hot-girl-meets-punk-rock.” She wore a military miniskirt, stilettos with gold heels, a dark low-cut tank top, and smudged eyeliner. Unfortunately, producers rejected that outfit too, telling the then-20-year-old actress, “We want high school sexy, not college sexy.”
A Casting Director Helped Sophia Bush Find The Perfect Look
By her third audition, which was a network test, Bush felt extremely nervous about getting her appearance right. Fortunately, a woman from The WB’s casting team stepped in to help her find the perfect balance between looking attractive, cute, mature, and believable as a 16-year-old high school student.
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Bush arrived carrying an entire L.L.Bean boat and tote filled with clothing options. She and the casting director went through the outfits in a hallway, trying to find something that matched the producers’ very specific expectations.
Eventually, they settled on a red Henley T-shirt with the top two buttons undone, a pleated khaki skirt resembling a cheerleading skirt, and red-and-white canvas sneaker heels. “When I emerged in the ensemble, she nodded in approval,” Bush recalls. Thankfully, the network loved the look too, and Bush finally secured the role.
Bush’s third audition changed everything. She officially joined One Tree Hill as Brooke Davis, a character initially introduced as a flirtatious, party-loving cheerleader. The actress played Brooke for all nine seasons of the teen drama, which aired from 2003 to 2012.
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