Quinn James
| Quinn James | |||||||||
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Shantel VanSanten as Quinn James | |||||||||
| One Tree Hill character | |||||||||
| Portrayed by | Shantel VanSanten | ||||||||
| First appearance |
"4:30 AM (Apparently They Were Traveling Abroad)" (episode 7.01) | ||||||||
| Last appearance |
"One Tree Hill" (episode 9.13) | ||||||||
| Created by | Mark Schwahn | ||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||
| Other names |
Quinn James Fletcher (first married name) Quinn James Evans (current married name) | ||||||||
| Occupation | Photographer | ||||||||
| Residence | Tree Hill, North Carolina | ||||||||
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Quinn James (née James; formerly Fletcher) is a fictional character from the CW television series One Tree Hill, portrayed by Shantel VanSanten. Introduced in the show's seventh season, Quinn is the elder sister to Haley James Scott. As the series progresses, she also becomes close friends with Brooke Davis and becomes romantically involved with Clay Evans, whom she marries in the series finale.
Character development
Background
Quinn Alexandra James was raised by Jimmy and Lydia James into a big family; including her sisters Taylor, Vivian (mentioned but never seen), Haley and three brothers. Quinn is a couple of years older than Haley, though she is younger than Vivian and Taylor. After school, Quinn became a photographer and married David Fletcher. They lived in an apartment before David bought a house with a dark room, as promised.
Character arc
Season 7
While Haley and Nathan were preparing for Jamie's seventh birthday, Quinn dropped in to see them. She attended Jamie's party, where she caught the attention of Nathan's sports agent Clay Evans, who thought she was hot, to which Quinn responded "I am hot." She continued to play the part of Jamie's fun aunt, playing a game of football with him and his friends, hiding the pain and lack of direction she was really feeling. She at first avoided telling Haley the truth about the breakdown of her marriage saying that David was simply off making a documentary but she later revealed that she left David because he wasn't the same person she fell in love with and she refused to spend her life with a complete stranger. David then started to contact Quinn, ringing her nonstop, forcing Haley to question why she actually left him. That night, Quinn told Haley about the day she decided she didn't want to be with David anymore. Quinn started to settle into life in Tree Hill and returned to working when Brooke Davis recruited her to photograph Alex Dupre in a Clothes Over Bro's photo shoot. During the shoot, Quinn showed her creative talent and befriended both Brooke and Millicent Huxtable but they were disrupted when Haley arrived having learned of the accusations against Nathan. After the shoot and trying to console Haley while at TRIC, Quinn ran into Clay and they talked until Clay left with Alex, prompting Quinn to ask if he is 'that guy'. Quinn continued to avoid her husband's call but was stunned when David arrived at TRIX, saying she had to talk to him eventually.
David then asked Quinn to come home, but she said she needed more time to think about it. Quinn met with David later and asked him for a divorce, saying that they couldn't save their marriage. At the fashion show, David arrived drunk and tried to persuade Quinn to talk to her, but Clay intervened and punched him. Quinn then talked to David again, and asked him to leave Tree Hill and to let go of her. Leaving David, she saw Clay and got into his car asking to go back to his place.
After going back to Clay's house, the two didn't sleep together and instead spent the night talking. The morning after, Clay and Quinn had breakfast together and continued to bond. When Quinn returned to the Scott house, David showed up wanting to know if Quinn went home with Clay the night before. When Quinn said that she did David told her that she had found a way to make him give up hope on them. He then said goodbye to her and left Tree Hill. With his scandal growing, Nathan told Clay not to see Quinn, however Clay found himself allowing Quinn to stay at his when the drama at the Scott house was too much.
In need of emotional support, Quinn turned to Clay but he decided to respect Nathan's request to leave Quinn alone. David returned all of Quinn's belongings but,he threw them all over Clay's driveway forcing Quinn to go to his house to gather all her things. While going through her belongings, Quinn reminisced about her time with David. Ultimately deciding she wanted to move on, she went to see Clay, who she was unaware was dealing with the death of his late wife Sara. However, when Clay answered the door, he told her to go home to David because he didn't want to lose Sara.
Trying to move past Clay, Quinn had a girls' night in with Haley and Brooke and they called over Quinn's psychic Zelda to do readings for them. During her reading, Zelda told Quinn that a man in her life suffered a great loss and was struggling. After being told that it wasn't David, Quinn realized that Clay needed her and Zelda was referring to him. She went to his house, but he turned her away once again. However, realizing that he needed to let Quinn into his life, he ran to her car in the rain and stopped her - telling her about Sara. They then spent the night together on the beach talking about Sara and Quinn realized that Clay was finally letting her in. Quinn and Clay's relationship went from strong to stronger on the same day. On the night of Haley's concert, Quinn and Clay returned to the beach and after both admitting that they were scared and were tired of being afraid, they kissed.
When the Charlotte Bobcats signed another player instead of Nathan gets furious at Clay for both not getting him a new contract and for seeing Quinn, Nathan fired him. Quinn tried to support Clay but found there was nothing she could do. Returning to Nathan and Haley's house, Quinn didn't face a warm reception from Haley who told Quinn not to talk to her given that she played a huge part in Nathan losing his job. She then started to pack her bags and leave their house causing another argument between her and Haley, who said that Clay got careless by spending time with Quinn. Stating that Clay worked extremely hard for Nathan and that he received nothing in return, she was glad Clay wasn't in Nathan's life anymore.
Quinn and Haley put their differences on hold because Haley needed her sister's help. Needing to help Clay, Quinn went to his office and found his assistant - asking her to help Clay. Clay's assistant told Quinn that Joe Turner's mother was sick and, while the meaningfulness of this was lost on Quinn, when she told Clay, he took Quinn to Joe's house to talk to him, in a bid to persuade Joe to let Clay negotiate a deal with the Bobcats to allow Joe to play for them - a plan which could also get Nathan back on the team. With Joe on board after Clay visited him, he then had to persuade the Bobcats to sign a deal in which Joe and Nathan could be signed to the team and Derek McDaniel traded off the team to another. However, Quinn and Clay struggled to gain access to the Bobcats' arena, until Clay came up with a plan for Quinn to pose as a cheerleader. His plan faced an unexpected twist when Quinn's turn to perform came before Clay finished his discussions. Quinn initially copied another cheerleader but when she left the stage, Quinn was forced to improvise and decided to have fun with the routine while Clay watched from the sidelines. Clay got the deal and they broke the good news to an ecstatic Nathan and Haley, but Clay told Nathan that if he was to sign with him again he would have to know that he planned on falling completely in love with Quinn. Quinn and Clay then met at the beach and their relationship was made permanent when Quinn walked into the sea, facing her fear, to be with him
One of Clay's prospective clients, Katie Ryan bares an uncanny resemblance to Sara, Clay's dead wife. She soon begins to stalk Clay and even dyes her hair blonde to perfect her resemblance to Sara. However, when she realizes that Clay will never leave Quinn, Katie breaks into the beach house and shoots both Quinn and Clay before leaving them for dead.
Season 8
Having been shot by Katie Ryan, Haley finds Clay and Quinn in their apartment. She then rushes the two to the hospital. While in a coma, Clay and Quinn meet in a dream and remember what happened to them after spending the day on the beach. Once they discover they've been shot they watch their body and loved ones in the hospital. They realize that it is really distressing for them. Quinn gets well enough to come out of her coma but first refuses to leave Clay. Quinn stays by Clay's side and is desperate for him to wake up. Clay is later on a respirator until in his dream he met Will Bennett, who later dies and donated his organs to helping others and gives Clay his kidney, Clay's best friend Nathan had previously decided to donate his but wasn't a match.
Clay soon recovers, and leaves the hospital with Quinn. Once they return to their home together Quinn has trouble sleeping and has nightmares. In one of them she sees Katie as zombie as well as Nathan, Haley and Jamie. Clay eventually realizes something is wrong when he finds a gun in her drawer on Halloween night, right after she tells him she thinks she saw Katie on the monitor. Therefore Clay asks her to go to South Africa for her work.
After not appearing in two episodes Quinn returns on Thanksgiving Day and seems quite happy but tired. When she opens her envelope containing her pictures she finds some of Katie, thus making it well known to her that she is back. After this Quinn goes to visits Dan for information on what she should do with Katie. Dan tries to convince her not to kill Katie and to open her eyes. After going back to her home she throws her gun in the pool. In the thunderstorm, Katie attacks Quinn at her home and Quinn struggles to stay alive. First she hides under her bed but Katie finds her and pulls her out. The two of them start a hide and seek game and when Quinn has the chance to escape, Katie tells her that she will find her. Quinn upon hearing this attacks Katie and throws her into the pool. Quinn pretends to have drowned so when Katie gets out and goes into the house Quinn grabs her gun which she had thrown into the pool and in the end she manages to shoot Katie but does not kill her. After the ordeal Quinn goes to a party along with Alex, Brooke, Haley and Millie and wakes up drunk the next day.
Season 9
At the start of season 9, Quinn is struggling with Clay as he has been sleepwalking and waking up in random places. Quinn tries to get Clay to seek help, however this causes Clay to act out even more and starts to argue with Quinn. Clay decides that it would be best if he was to go to a facility that would help him recover. Quinn struggles without Clay, however Clay is making progress and has started a friendship with a young boy, Logan. It is discovered that Clay was sleepwalking because he was blocking out a part of his life with Sara. Clay remembers that Logan is his son. Quinn tries to help Clay to tell Logan that he is his father. Quinn comforts Clay when Logan rejects Clay, however Logan reconsiders and wants Clay and Quinn to be a part of his life. Quinn and Clay prepare for Logan's first sleepover at the beach house. It is at this time that Clay proposes to Quinn. She says yes. In the final episode, Quinn and Clay make their way to the registry office to adopt Logan. Here Logan calls Quinn, 'mom' so this prompts Quinn to suggest that her and Clay get married there and then. They get married and adopt Logan.
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