Most couples, one might assume, would be ecstatic to learn that they were to expect a child. Baby registries and nurseries painted, gifts abound and a more or less happy nine months ahead. Not so much was the case at the Rucco household. More a couple of co-habitants than in any actual relationship, Alice Young and Jason Rucco weren't the happy expectant parents that one might expect. Jason didn't want anything to do with a kid, and Alice had some crazy idea that having Jason's kid would make him actually want to be with her. The thing of the matter was that it worked, at least for a few of years.
When little Brandon Rucco came screaming his way into the world, he went home to a place that was actually fairly harmonious. He had a mother who maybe used him to show off some kind of family around, and a father who was kind enough, but would show a little interest in a son who adored him. Nor would he show much interest in the second little boy that graced their family when Bran was just two. It wasn't until Bran was five that things changed, all for the worse. Jason found a new young thing to spend his time with, and Alice threw him out in a jealous rage. Jason didn't even bother to take responsibility for his sons after that, barely even sending a check every once in a while. Alice didn't take too well to Bran and and his brother after that, spending most of her time chasing after any man that looked twice in her direction. Bran's childhood past five was filled with an array of strangers who called him "buddy" or "kiddo" but barely realized his existence beyond that.
His teenage years is where Bran really started to grow a backbone for himself, or rather, took on the "I don't give a shit" attitude. He did fine for himself in school, if only because being there beat spending time at home. His mom didn't really care what he did, and he wouldn't have even bothered if she did. He can still remember her telling him to get the girl out of his room when he was sixteen, and his only reply was he would, as soon as she got the nameless guy out of hers.
In high school, the thing that really took him out of the crap that was his home life seemed to be the theater. When he could have easily gotten into a bunch of trouble elsewhere, he was forced into theater as an elective, but actually found that he loved it. Mostly, he was a behind the scenes kind of guy, but they finally got him out on stage and he loved that even more. His mom even came to his plays. Those were some of the few times that the two of them were nice to each other. When the time came for college, Bran didn't really think that was for him. He had never wanted some big higher learning-thing, and eventually decided that he was just going to go after the only thing that had made him happy, and that was acting.
There was no great "discovery" story when it came to Brandon's success story. He got to Los Angeles and lived on this couch or that, glad that he had some family and friends living in the city. He went on audition after audition, mostly open cattle calls just hoping for someone to notice him. It seemed like every 50 auditions he went on, he got one, maybe two callbacks. It was brutal, but he worked his ass off, taking classes to better his craft and get a good reputation for himself as someone who worked hard. When he finally booked his first job, a movie with barely a line or two in it, he was overjoyed. Even to get a speaking line at all in such a big movie sequel was a dream come true for him, and it invigorated him at just the right time. He was so gung-ho after that, and though he didn't work again right away, he practiced positive thinking and perseverance. His big break would come in the form of a new TV series that honestly nobody really knew how it would do. When The OC premiered, it was what would change his entire life. It seemed like something "overnight" despite the years he'd worked, where he went from being a relative unknown to being one of the leads of a hit TV series. His world was changing, and he was just trying to keep up with it.
The series lasted for four years, and in that time, Bran was allowed to take a random film role here and there. He never even went for anything "leading man" but he liked to spend his breaks working rather than becoming complacent with his relative "fame". In his mind, he never wanted to get bored with anything he was doing. Being on a TV show for four years was a great exercise in being able to live with a character for a long time, but it was tiresome to play a lot of the same for such a long period of time. The roles he took while he was still working on The OC were important, but none quite as important as the ones he looked for after it. He didn't want to fade into obscurity, and wanted to break away from Ryan Atwood as much as he could. Bran wanted to keep working of course, but he didn't want to just do anything at all because he wanted to keep working.
Brandon built his career by attempting to fairly carefully choose his roles when he could, but otherwise just made sure that the work he was doing was something he could be passionate about, or at the very least happy doing. The press was an inevitable beast within the world of making movies and television, but Brandon actually found it fun. Fun, if only because he liked to mess with them. He didn't take photographers and journalists all that seriously, and would play it off that it was just because he didn't take himself all that seriously either. The more high profile the roles were that he was taking, the more fun he liked to have with what he was doing. Bran has the idea that if he ever takes himself way too seriously, he just hopes he's made good enough friends to smack him back down to earth.
There was a time when life itself got the better of Brandon. His career was going excellently well, but his personal life imploded time and again, and he just didn't want to deal with it. He'd just finished a big year of films, but allowed himself to take too much time doing other things -- namely, spiraling into addictive behavior with drugs, alcohol, women -- the whole deal. It was rock bottom for Brandon, and it was really only through the help of his brother and closest friends that he managed to pull himself up by his bootstraps. He refused rehab, insisting that he wasn't an addict, and had to prove it, going through detox of his destructive behavior on his own -- just under the watchful eye of those closest to him. Through that trial came a lot of clarity for Brandon. He didn't become any sort of "good guy" or change his personality. He didn't find Jesus or start talking in "hang in there" platitudes, but he found a sense of peace and calm within himself. He got back to work, his catharsis became pouring himself into the effort he gives to every role. He took about a year off of filming new projects to get back to normal, or his new-normal, and figure out how he could best still be "himself" without tipping it into destructive-territory. It's still a work in progress.