Olivia Wilde

Olivia Wilde spent roughly fifteen years as a working actor — The O.C., then five years as Thirteen on House, then Tron: Legacy and Cowboys & Aliens — before directing her first feature, Booksmart, in 2019. It won her the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature. She has directed three features since, and co-founded a venture capital firm in 2023. She was born in New York, raised in Washington, D.C., and holds dual US and Irish citizenship.

Born Olivia Jane Cockburn in New York City in March 1984, she grew up in the Georgetown neighbourhood of Washington, D.C., and spent childhood summers in Ardmore, County Waterford. She is a dual citizen of the United States and Ireland.

She took the professional surname Wilde while still at school, after Oscar Wilde, in acknowledgement of a family full of writers — her grandfather Claud Cockburn was a novelist and journalist, her aunt Sarah Caudwell a crime writer, and both her parents are journalists.

She deferred a place at Bard College three times to keep acting, and never took it up. Her first screen work came in 2003.

• Director, The Invite2026
• Director, 'Tache (short)2023
• Director and producer, Don't Worry Darling2022
• Director, Wake Up (short)2020
• Director, Booksmart2019
• Actor, Richard Jewell2019
• Actor, Vinyl2016
• Actor, The Lazarus Effect2015
• Actor, Her2013
• Actor, Drinking Buddies2013
• Actor, Cowboys & Aliens2011
• Actor, Tron: Legacy2010
• Actor, House2007 to 2012
• Actor, Alpha Dog2006
• Actor, The O.C.2004 to 2005

The through-line is a move from in front of the camera to behind it, made deliberately and late.

She was cast in The O.C. in 2004 as Alex Kelly, and two years later joined House as Remy "Thirteen" Hadley — a part that ran five years and made her recognisable. Two studio films followed, Tron: Legacy in 2010 and Cowboys & Aliens in 2011. She also voiced Charlotte across six years of BoJack Horseman, and made her Broadway debut in 2017 playing Julia in 1984 at the Hudson Theatre.

The directing began with music videos, including work for Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and for the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2016. Booksmart in 2019 was her first feature. Don't Worry Darling followed in 2022, which she directed, produced and appeared in, and The Invite in 2026.

• Georgetown Day School, Washington, D.C.
• Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, graduated2002
• Gaiety School of Acting, Dublin
• Deferred a place at Bard College three times and did not take it up

• Independent Spirit Award, Best First Feature, for Booksmart2020
• Screen Actors Guild Award nomination, outstanding ensemble in a drama series, for House2009
• Booksmart holds a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes

• Booksmart, 2019 — directorial debut, Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature
• Don't Worry Darling, 2022 — psychological thriller, directed, produced and acted in
• The Invite, 2026 — comedy, directed, produced and acted in
• 1984, Hudson Theatre, 2017 — Broadway debut as Julia

• Instagram@oliviawilde

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