OLIVIA WILDE

Date of Birth
10 March 1984, New York City, New York, USA

Birth Name
Olivia Jane Cockburn

Height
5' 7½" (1.71 m)

Mini Biography
Olivia Wilde was born Olivia Jane Cockburn in New York City. She was raised in Washington, D.C. and went to school there, as well as in Andover, Massachusetts, where she graduated in 2002. Her father, Andrew Cockburn, is Irish, giving her dual American and Irish nationality and facilitating her brief study at the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin, Ireland. After appearing in the short-lived Fox television series "Skin" (2003), she made her Hollywood debut in The Girl Next Door (2004) and then came to public notice in "The O.C." (2003), but it was as Dr. Remy "Thirteen" Hadley in "House M.D." (2004) that she achieved international stardom. She has since starred or co-starred in the films TRON: Legacy (2010), Cowboys & Aliens (2011), In Time (2011), People Like Us (2012) and The Words (2012).

Spouse
Tao Ruspoli (16 January 2003 - 29 September 2011) (divorced)

Trade Mark
Cat-like blue eyes

Deep sultry voice

Petite figure


Trivia
Granddaughter of Jean Ross and Francis Claud Cockburn, who used the pen name James Helvick.

Daughter of Andrew Cockburn and Leslie Cockburn.

Attended Georgetown Day School in Washington, D.C., through 8th grade.

Ex-sister-in-law of Bartolomeo Ruspoli and Aileen Getty.

Ex-daughter-in-law of Dado Ruspoli, 9th Prince of Cerveteri and Debra Berger.

Attended Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin, Ireland.

Spent one month on the set of The Girl Next Door (2004) before being asked to join the cast.

Raised in Washington, D.C.

Graduated from Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.

Has a dog named Paco who, as of July 26, 2006, is the new mascot for Old Navy.

Best friends with Patrick Fugit and Megalyn Echikunwoke.

Won Best Actress at HBO's US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, 2006 for her role in Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas (2006).

Ranked #95 on FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World" list of 2006.

Has dual citizenship between Ireland and the United States.

Eloped with her husband and was married in a bus in Washington, Virginia when she was age 19. As of 2011, she is separated and seeking divorce.

Once won a pancake eating contest while in Australia.

Ranked #15 on Maxim magazine's "Hot 100 Women" of 2011, after being ranked #1 in 2009. Previously had been rated #97 in 2008 and and #61 in 2005.

Is a natural blond.

Is a vegan.

Is Irish-American.

Was rumored to play the lead Bond girl in Bond 23.

Replaced Kate Hudson in Butter (2011).

Close friends with Kal Penn.

Niece of Alexander Cockburn, Patrick Cockburn, and Sarah Caudwell.

A lifelong lover of classic cars, she owns a 1958 Chevy Biscayne and a 1959 Thunderbird convertible. Once owned a 1966 Lincoln Continental.

Adopted her professional name "Wilde" after she developed a profound respect and admiration for Irish poet and writer Oscar Wilde and his body of literature.

Has an older sister named Chloe and a younger brother named Charlie.

Voted #30 in the 2011 Ask Men list of the "top 99 most desirable women". Previously she ranked #49 in 2010.

Ranked #5 in the 2011 FHM list of "100 Sexiest Women in the World".

Ranked #18 in the 2010 FHM UK list of "100 Sexiest Women in the World".

Mick Jagger was once her parents' dinner guest at their Washington, D.C. home, and she had an impromptu brownie-eating contest with Chris Farley when, at age 10, she visited the set of "Saturday Night Live" (1975).

Her well-connected journalist parents once helped her get a casting office job in Los Angeles, California, hoping the experience would dissuade her from taking up acting.

Her paternal grandmother, Jean Ross, was the inspiration for Christopher Isherwood's character "Sally Bowles", portrayed on film in I Am a Camera (1955) by Julie Harris, and Cabaret (1972) by Liza Minnelli.

Voted #23 in Ask Men's top 99 'most desirable' women of 2012.

Ranked #54 on the Askmen list of the top 99 "most desirable" famous women for 2013.

As a young girl, Wilde was frequently babysat by British writer and family friend Christopher Hitchens.

Parents were personal friends of Rolling Stone Mick Jagger.

Engaged to actor Jason Sudeikis (January 12, 2013).


Personal Quotes
[4/15/07, interview in The New York Observer] When people saw "The Black Donnellys" (2007), they didn't know it was the same girl from "The O.C." (2003). I'm a natural blonde, but I feel like a brunette. I feel like people treat me now how I should be treated. People used to be shocked, when I was blond, that I wasn't stupid. I used to get these comments that I swear people thought were compliments. Like, "Oh! You're smart"--like they couldn't believe it.

Trying to find this industry's tendency to celebrate the physical is a waste of time. So I'm happy to play the game. But I am also thirsty for input. I'm not a dunce whose only skill is knowing how to take a photograph, you know? And at the end of the day I think it makes me slightly less replaceable.

[Of her marriage, at age 19] It was a great eight years, but it was time for both of us to move.

[on TRON: Legacy (2010)] It was an effort to get into that suit, but if I was a real astronaut I wouldn't expect that to be easy either. It's all part of the process, it's a challenge and that is what creates the rewards.

I wanted to be on "Saturday Night Live" (1975) as a cast member. So I went to my mom at ten years old and said, "This is what I want". And she said, "Great, well, you're going to have to go to Second City and you're going to have to audition". And she took me seriously. And I think that's what always kind of helped propel me and take myself seriously is that I had supportive parents that were in no way pressuring me to do anything. But if I declared that I wanted something, they took me seriously. And that is often what it takes when you decide to be an artist.

[on her Cowboys & Aliens (2011) character] I liked that she is a strong character. Ella is brave and mysterious and resilient and can hold her own against the men.

I've worked with a lot of the greatest guys in the business, and now I am slowly working with more and more women. We don't really get to work together, the girls, so much.

I feel like the luckiest child in the world because I got to grow up in Ireland. In summer is when you really grow up. During the year, I would go back to the States, and all year long really couldn't wait to get back to Ardmore. I love the landscape, the cliff walks, the smell, the freezing cold water, the music . . . Do I sound like some soppy romantic? I even love the food. People always laugh at me when I say that. People in Ardmore would say, "Oh isn't living in America cool--you live in a big city, you get to be close to all these things we only see on TV", but I found Ireland much more inspiring as a kid, much more fun, and the people had such an amazing effect on me, and I credit a lot of my growth as a child and a lot of my happiness with the people I was surrounded by in Ireland.