Olivia Wilde

Olivia Jane Cockburn (born March 10, 1984), known professionally as Olivia Wilde, is an American actress, director and producer.

Wilde was born Olivia Jane Cockburn in New York City on March 10, 1984.

She grew up in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., while spending summers at Ardmore in Ireland.

She attended Georgetown Day School in Washington, D.C., and Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, graduating in 2002.

She derived her professional surname from Irish author Oscar Wilde, and began using it in high school to honor the writers in her family, many of whom used pen names.

She was accepted to Bard College, but deferred her enrollment three times to pursue acting.

She then studied at the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin.

For a short time, Wilde's family also had a house in Guilford, Vermont.

Wilde has a sister five years older and a brother nine years younger.

Her father, Andrew Cockburn, is a British journalist who was born in the London suburb of Willesden and raised in Ireland.

Her mother, Leslie Cockburn (née Redlich), is an American producer on 60 Minutes and a journalist.

Writer Christopher Hitchens was the Cockburn family's tenant in Washington, D.C., and served as Wilde's babysitter.

Her grandfather, British novelist Claud Cockburn, and his sons Alexander and Patrick Cockburn were also journalists, and her aunt, Sarah Caudwell, was a writer.

Wilde appeared as "Jewel Goldman" on the short-lived television series Skin (2003–2004).

She gained attention for her recurring role as bisexual bar owner Alex Kelly, who dates both characters played by Adam Brody and Mischa Barton on the teen drama TV series The O.C. (2004–2005).

She appeared in films The Girl Next Door (2004), Conversations with Other Women (2005), Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas (2006), Turistas (2006) and Alpha Dog (2006).

She played Remy "Thirteen" Hadley on the medical-drama television series House (2007–2012), and has appeared in the films Tron: Legacy (2010), Cowboys & Aliens (2011), The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013), and The Lazarus Effect (2015).

In 2007, she starred off-Broadway in political thriller Beauty on the Vine, playing three characters.

She was also in The Death and Life of Bobby Z. (2007) and the short-lived drama television series The Black Donnellys (2007).

In September 2007, she joined the cast of the medical drama TV series House as Remy "Thirteen" Hadley, a bisexual internist with Huntington's disease who is handpicked by House to join his medical team.

Her first appearance was in the episode "The Right Stuff".

Wilde appeared in the comedy film Year One (2009) as Princess Inanna, and starred in Disney's Tron: Legacy (2010) as Quorra.

Inspired by her award-winning journalist and documentary filmmaker parents, she has executive-produced several documentary short films, including Sun City Picture House (2010), about a community in Haiti that rallies to build a movie theater after the disastrous 2010 earthquake.

In August 2011, it was announced Wilde would be leaving House to further pursue her film career; she left a few months later, in the episode "Charity Case".

Wilde starred in Cowboys & Aliens (2011) as Ella Swensen, who works with other characters to save the Earth from evil aliens, and also starred in the comedy The Change-Up (2011).

She was also in the films In Time (2011), On the Inside (2011) and Butter (2011).

In 2011, Wilde became a global brand ambassador for the cosmetic company Revlon, which featured her in their commercials.

Wilde made her directing and screenwriting debut with the film Free Hugs (2011) for Glamour Magazine's short film series, which was screened at various festivals.

In May 2012, Wilde's character, Remy "Thirteen" Hadley, returned for the series finale of House for two episodes, "Holding On" and "Everybody Dies."

She starred in the film People Like Us (2012), Third Person (2012), The Words (2012) and as Liza in Deadfall (2012), a thriller about two siblings who decide to fend for themselves in the wake of a botched casino heist, and their unlikely reunion during another family's Thanksgiving celebration.

In 2012, Wilde was featured in PBS docu-series Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, which was inspired by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's book of the same name.

The docu-series follows Wilde as she learns of the struggles women face in Nairobi, Kenya.

She also produced the short film, Baseball in the Time of Cholera (2012), which explored the cholera epidemic in Haiti.

In 2013, Wilde wrote an article called the, "Do's and Don'ts of Turning 30," which was published in Glamour Magazine.

She starred in and executive produced Drinking Buddies (2013).

She had a supporting role as Jane, a magician's assistant, in The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013).

She also played Suzy Miller in the biographical drama Rush (2013), about James Hunt and Niki Lauda, and had a starring role in the film Her (2013), which was lauded by critics, and received accolades from the Academy Awards and Golden Globe Awards.

She made her Broadway debut in 2017 as Julia in 1984.

Her first film as a director, the teen comedy Booksmart (2019), received critical acclaim and won the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature.

Her second directed feature, the thriller Don't Worry Darling, was released in 2022.