Olivia Wilde

Actor / Producer / Director

Birthdate – March 10, 1984 (40 Years Old)

Birthplace – New York City, New York, USA

Olivia Wilde (birthname: Olivia Jane Cockburn) is part of a fascinating wave of young female actors transforming themselves into filmmakers, joining the ranks of such acclaimed writer-directors as Greta Gerwig. After directing a short film in 2011, Free Hugs, as well as two 2016 music videos for Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and Red Hot Chili Peppers, Wilde served as producer-star on writer-director Sarah Daggar-Nickson’s drama, A Vigilante (2018).

These were prepared for her acclaimed directorial debut, Booksmart (2019), starring Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever, earning Wilde a selection among Variety’s Directors to Watch at the Palm Spring Film Festival and the Best First Feature Award at the 2020 Independent Spirit Awards. Wilde directed her second short film, Wake Up (2020), starring Margaret Qualley, and premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Olivia Wilde’s highly anticipated second feature is the psychological drama, Don’t Worry Darling (2022), starring Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, Chris Pine, Gemma Chan, and Nick Kroll, and premiering in competition at the 79th edition of the Venice Film Festival and released by Warner Bros.

Olivia Wilde’s film acting career began in 2004 with a supporting role in the 20th Century Fox rom-com, The Girl Next Door, with Elisha Cuthbert, Emile Hirsch, and Timothy Olyphant. More supporting roles included Conversation(s) with Other Women (2005) and Nick Cassavetes’ Alpha Dog (2006), until Wilde began to be cast in co-starring roles, in John Stockwell’s Brazil-shot thriller, Turistas (2006), with Josh Duhamel and Melissa George; a little-seen adaptation of Don Winslow’s The Death and Life of Bobby Z (2007) with Paul Walker and Laurence Fishburne; Tao Ruspoli’s Los Angeles drama, Fix (2008), with Shawn Andrews; Paul Haggis’ action thriller, The Next Three Days (2010), with Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks, Liam Neeson, and Brian Dennehy; Joseph Kosinski’s reboot, Tron: Legacy (2010), with Garrett Hedlund, Jeff Bridges, and Michael Sheen; the political satire, Butter (2011), with Jennifer Garner, Hugh Jackman, Ty Burrell, and Rob Corddry; the Universal Pictures rom-com The Change-Up (2011), with Ryan Reynolds, Jason Bateman, Leslie Mann, and Alan Arkin; Jon Favreau’s fanciful Cowboys & Aliens (2011), starring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford, but a rare box-office failure for director Favreau.

Olivia Wilde joined writer-director Andrew Niccol for the sci-fi film, In Time (2011), with Amanda Seyfried, Justin Timberlake, and Cillian Murphy. Wilde co-starred with Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Irons, Dennis Quaid, and Zoe Saldana in The Words (2012), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Wilde served as executive producer (her first producing credit) and starred in filmmaker Joe Swanberg’s comedy-drama, Drinking Buddies (2013), with Anna Kendrick and Ron Livingston. Wilde joined Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, and Rooney Mara (including the voice of Scarlett Johansson) in Spike Jonze’s acclaimed Her (2013), nominated for five Oscars including Best Picture and winning Best Screenplay.

Wilde was cast opposite Steve Carell, Steve Buscemi, Jim Carrey, Alan Arkin, and James Gandolfini in The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013), followed by Ron Howard’s true-life Formula One drama, Rush (2013), with Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl, and Paul Haggis’ drama, Third Person (2013), with Liam Neeson, Mila Kunis, Adrien Brody, and James Franco, the latter two premiering at the Toronto Film Festival. Wilde co-starred in a string of critically lambasted movies in 2014 and 2015, though the horror film from Blumhouse, The Lazarus Effect (2015), with Mark Duplass and Donald Glover, was a box-office success.

Olivia Wilde was the leading star for the first time (as well as executive producer) in Reed Morano’s directing debut, Meadowland (2015), premiering at the Tribeca film festival and co-starring Luke Wilson, Juno Temple, Elisabeth Moss, Giovanni Ribisi, and John Leguizamo. Another poorly reviewed, Toronto-premiering film co-starring Wilde was Dan Fogelman’s melodrama, Life Itself (2018), with Oscar Isaac and Mandy Patinkin, but a solid triumph followed with Wilde joining Clint Eastwood for his award-winning drama, Richard Jewell (2019), starring Paul Walter Hauser, Sam Rockwell, Oscar-nominated Kathy Bates, and Jon Hamm.

Olivia Wilde was featured in the Sundance indie, Daryl Wein’s and Zoe Lister-Jones’ apocalyptic How It Ends (2021), starring Jones, Helen Hunt, and Fred Armisen. In an extremely busy 2022, Wilde juggled making Don’t Worry Darling with acting gigs, including playing Lois Lane (in her first voice performance) in DC League of Super-Pets and joining the large ensemble of Damien Chazelle’s Jazz Age Hollywood drama, Babylon, starring Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie. Wilde’s third feature is set to be Perfect (date to be announced), a biopic of 1996 Olympic gymnast, Kerri Strug, with Thomasin McKenzie. She is also attached as director to an untitled future Marvel/Sony Pictures movie that will reportedly be “female-centric.”

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Personal Details

New York-born Olivia Wilde was raised by renowned journalist-parents, Andrew and Leslie Cockburn. Wilde comes from a family of distinguished journalists, including grandfather Claud Cockburn, uncle Alexander Cockburn, and aunt-author Sarah Caudwell.  and is distantly related to novelists Evelyn and Alec Waugh. Wilde’s family history includes many figures from the Scottish upper class. She grew up in Georgetown, D.C., and attended Georgetown Day School and the highly selective Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass.

After graduating in 2002, Wilde was accepted to Bard College but deferred enrollment three times to study acting, which she did at Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin, Ireland. In high school, she changed her surname from Cockburn to “Wilde,” after Oscar Wilde and in her family’s tradition of writer nom-de-plumes. Wilde was secretly married to Tao Ruspoli, the Italian co-founder of the Bombay Beach Biennale, from 2003 to 2011. She was in a relationship with actor-comedian Jason Sudeikis starting in 2011, and the couple engaged in 2013. They have two children, a son, Otis, and a daughter, Daisy. They separated in 2020. Wilde is in a relationship with singer-actor Harry Styles. Wilde’s height is 5’ 7”. Her net worth is $25 million.

Filmography

Booksmart

Booksmart (2019)

Don’t Worry Darling

(2022)

In Time

Rachel Salas (2011)

Life Itself

Abby (2018)

People Like Us

Hannah (2012)

Rush

Suzy Miller (2013)

The Lazarus Effect

Zoe (2015)

The Words

Daniella (2012)

DC League of Super-Pets

Lois Lane (2022)

Babylon

Ina Conrad ()

Richard Jewell

Kathy Scruggs (2019)

Her

Blind Date (2013)

Some Facts About Olivia Wilde

Family History: Olivia Wilde’s family tree includes the notorious George Cockburn, who organized the burning of Washington, D.C. in the War of 1812. Wilde is also the 20th great-granddaughter of King Edward VII.

Writer, Writers Everywhere: Wilde’s childhood home was full of writers and journalists, including her babysitter, famed late journalist-author Christopher Hitchens.

Broadway Bound: Olivia Wilde made her Broadway debut in a new stage version of George Orwell’s 1984 at the Hudson Theatre.

Unusual Wedding: Wilde secretly married her husband Tao Ruspoli on a school bus in order to keep it as secret as possible.

Awards

Winner, Breakthrough Director of the Year, CinemaCon Awards (2019); Winner, Best First Feature, Independent Spirit Awards (2020); Nominee, Best Drama Series Ensemble, Screen Actors Guild Awards (2009).