Olivia Wilde

Olivia Jane Cockburn ( ; born March 10, 1984), known professionally as Olivia Wilde, is an American actress and filmmaker. 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). Wilde made her Broadway debut in 2017, playing Julia in 1984. In 2019, she directed her first film, the teen comedy Booksmart (2019), for which she won the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature. Wilde's second feature as director, Don't Worry Darling, was released in 2022. Early life and family 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. Wilde derived her surname from Irish author Oscar Wilde, and started using it while 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 in order 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's father, Andrew Cockburn, is a British journalist; he 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 journalist. She has a sister five years older and a brother nine years younger. 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 also worked as journalists and her aunt, Sarah Caudwell, was a writer.