Anna Stern

Anna Stern
File:Anna Stern.jpg Samaire Armstrong as Anna Stern
First appearance	The Debut (episode 1.04)
Last appearance	The Party Favor (episode 3.23)
Created by	Josh Schwartz
Portrayed by	Samaire Armstrong
In-universe information
Gender	Female
Occupation	Student
Family	Cameron Stern (father) Patricia Stern (mother)
Spouse	Seth Cohen (ex-boyfriend)

Anna Stern is a fictional character from the FOX series The O.C., played by Samaire Armstrong.

Character's background

Season 1

Having just moved to Newport Beach from Pittsburgh, she was paired with newcomer Ryan Atwood to attend the annual cotillion. Seth and Anna began talking however and connected instantly as they talked about their shared passion, comic books. When Ryan was unable to attend, Seth and Anna went to cotillion together. Seth turned down Summer Roberts, the love of his life, to go with Anna, which became somewhat of an omen of their relationship to come.

When Anna returned to school after a summer sailing trip, she and Seth picked up where they left off. Anna, realizing how much Seth liked Summer, began to give him advice on how to attract her. It soon became apparent, however, that Anna liked Seth. Anna later admitted, when asked by Ryan, that she did like Seth, but understood that he would never see her as anything more than a friend. When she kissed him later that night, Seth assumed that it was part of their plan to make Summer jealous and Anna didn't correct him.

Soon, though, Seth became aware of Anna's feelings, at the same time Summer admitted that she had feelings for him. The previously girl-less Seth now had two amazing girls who liked him, and he had no idea what to do. Things came to a head at Thanksgiving, when he invited Anna to his house. Summer turned up looking for Marissa and he hid Summer in Ryan's pool house, then raced back to the house and he took Anna up to his room. Seth spent the afternoon racing between Anna and Summer, but eventually was caught out by the two girls.

Anna and Summer formed a short lived unlikely friendship after this, which was shattered when Seth delivered them a heartfelt apology. The two girls both did their best to try to win his affections. At Chrismukkah, however, the girls forced him to choose between them before someone got hurt. Seth, unable to choose told both girls that he just wanted to be friends with them.

On New Year's Eve, Anna found herself lonely and morose at a New Year party. She went to Seth's house, and the New Year saw the two of them making out on Seth's bed. Their relationship had a rocky start, with both Anna and Seth afraid to tell Summer, whom they had both become friends with. When they did, she seemed fine with it, but it became apparent that she was determined to break them up. While on holidays in Palm Springs, Anna and Seth seemed likely to sleep together. But a few 'innocent' comments from Summer about them being like brother and sister put a halt to that. Later on, their similarities began to bother Seth. Summer started hanging out with the couple, somewhat intentionally trying to come between them. Seth began paying her more attention however, and it became obvious he still had feelings for Summer. Anna realised this, and broke up with Seth as a result eventually. After a trip back to Pittsburgh, Anna returned to find Seth and Summer were together. Although she remained friends with Seth, she missed Pittsburgh too much, and decided to move back, with a tearful goodbye to Seth at the airport.

Season 3

Anna has since returned in season three where she bumped into Seth at a Brown University Pre-Frosh event. They re-connected instantly, and Seth shared some of his recent troubles with her concerning not getting into Brown and his break up with Summer. But Summer thinks they're going out when she sees them hug at the airport. She helped him get an interview with the Rhode Island School of Design and also returned to Newport to attend the Prom with Seth and help him win Summer back.

Trivia

• Anna was initially intended to appear in only one episode, but was brought back at fan request for several episodes of the first season. After a successful run, Melinda Clarke and Rachel Bilson were added to the main cast in the thirteenth episode, while Samaire Armstrong wasn't despite the regular appearance of her character.
• Anna appears on the back of the Music from the OC: Mix 1 album with the main cast of season 1.
• In the episode of season 3 "The Party Favor" Anna is saying to Seth and Summer: "I'm gonna go. I fly back tomorrow, but I'll see you both in Providence." So Anna is a student at Brown University, but she is offscreen.
• In the booklet of the 'Mix 5' CD most cast members leave messages to each other including "Hey guys-see you soon! Missing you in Pittsburg-Anna"