Who is Olivia Thirlby?
Olivia Jo Thirlby was born in New York City USA, on 6 October 1986 – her zodiac sign’s Libra, and she holds American nationality. She’s an actress, film script writer and producer, with more than 40 acting credits to her name, while she’s perhaps still known best for her portrayal of Leah in the 2007 comedy movie “Juno”, directed by Jason Reitman, and which starred Elliot Page, Michael Cera and Jennifer Garner. It follows a teenager who’s become pregnant, and has decided that she’ll give her baby up for adoption as soon as he/she’s born; the movie won 90 awards, including an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Screenplay, while it was nominated for 100 other awards.
Early life and education
Olivia was raised in New York City by her mother who was an advertising executive, and her father who was a contractor; not a lot else is known about Olivia’s parents, including their names, as she respects their privacy. Because she hasn’t spoken of having any siblings, most of her fans believe that she’s an only child.
Olivia became interested in acting while attending Manhattan’s K-12 school Friends Seminary; she appeared in a couple of plays performed at the school, as well as several performed at a local theatre. She spent a summer at French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts, while she also practiced acting at Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts, American Globe Theatre, and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA, London, England).
Olivia ALSO practiced stage combat at the British Academy of Stage and Screen Combat.
Roles in movies
Olivia made her debut film appearance in the hit 2006 historical action drama “United 93”, written and directed by Paul Greengrass, and in which she starred alongside David Alan Basche and Liza Colon-Zayas. The movie explains what happened with the United Flight 93, which was hijacked by terrorists on 11 September 2001; it won 29 of the 88 awards for which it was nominated, including two Oscar nominations for Best Achievement in Directing and Best Achievement in Film Editing.
A couple of Olivia’s following notable performances were in the 2006 short drama “Unlocked”, the romantic crime drama “Snow Angels” and the comedy drama “Love Comes Lately”, both in 2007
The year 2008 saw her play a supporting character in the popular romantic comedy drama “New York, I Love You”, directed by Fatih Akkin, Yvan Attal and Randall Balsmeyer, and which starred Hu Hong, Yao Meng and Israel Horovitz. It tells 11 love stories in New York City, and the film was nominated for a 2009 Golden Trailer Award for Best Film Festival Trailer.
Olivia Thirlby (33)@missthirlby#NewYork
2006 United 93 / Kidnapped
2007 Snow Angels / Juno / Love Comes Lately / The Secret
2008 The Wackness / New York, I Love You / Uncertainty
2009 The Answer Man / Breaking Upwards / What Goes Up / Bored to Death pic.twitter.com/AdbnKwiPHi— BenKenobi MovieWatcher (@pelimaniaEC) September 18, 2020
Olivia played Katie Kurtzman in the 2011 romantic comedy “No Strings Attached”, which won two of the nine awards for which it was nominated, and she was then cast to appear in several award-winning films, such as the 2011 drama “Margaret”, the 2012 drama “Being Flynn”, and the 2015 comedy “The Wedding Ringer”.
She played Dr. Christina Maslach in the 2015 biographical historical drama “The Stanford Prison Experiment”, directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez, and which starred Ezra Miller, Tye Sheridan and Billy Crudup. It tells the true story of when 24 students attending Stanford University took roles of prisoners and guards in a mock prison in the university’s basement in 1971; the movie won four of the seven awards for which it was nominated.
Three of Olivia’s most recent film roles have been in 2019 in the romantic fantasy drama “Above the Shadows” and the drama “Until the Wedding”, and the 2022 short drama “Artist in a Field”; she’s currently shooting for the upcoming movies “Oppenheimer” and “You Above All”.
Roles in TV series
Olivia made her debut TV series appearance with her portrayal of Aubrey Cain in five episodes of the 2016 crime drama “Kidnapped”, created by Jason Smilovic, and which starred Jeremy Sisto, Carmen Ejogo and Delroy Lindo. It follows the kidnapping of a 15-year- old boy, and an FBI agent who’s investigating the case; the series won one of the three awards for which it was nominated, including a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series.
A couple of Olivia’s following roles were in five episodes of the 2009 crime comedy drama “Bored to Death”, 12 episodes of the 2011 animated comedy “Good Vibes” (voice role), and eight episodes of the 2016 drama “Goliath”.
Most recently, in 2021, she portrayed Hero Brown in all the 10 episodes of the action adventure drama “Y: The Last Man”, which starred Diane Lane and Ashley Romans, and follows the last surviving man on a post-apocalyptic Earth; the series won one of the five awards for which it was nominated.
Other credits
Olivia’s received three special thanks: for the 2014 romantic science fiction film “Parts Per Billion”, the 2015 thriller movie “Consumed”, and the 2017 musical comedy film “Band Aid”.
She wrote and produced the 2022 short movie “Artist in a Field”.
Olivia could’ve been seen making a guest appearance in various talk-shows, such as “Big Morning Buzz Live”, “The Wendy Williams Show”, and “Made in Hollywood”.
Awards and nominations
Olivia won a 2017 Boston Film Festival Prize for Best Actress for her performance in “Damascus Cover”, and a 2019 Pitch to Screen Film Award for Best Actress for “Above the Shadows”.
She was also nominated for a 2008 Gold Derby Film Award for Ensemble Cast and a 2008 Broadcasting Film Critics Association Critics Choice Award for Best Acting Ensemble, both for her and her colleagues’ performance in “Juno”.
Love life and husband
Olivia came out as bisexual in 2011, when she gave an interview to “Brooklyn Magazine”, explaining that her sexuality was one of the reasons why she’d previously taken part in Self-Evident Truths Project, launched by American author, photographer and actor iO Tillett Wright.
Since 28 December 2014, Olivia’s been married to American boom operator Jacques Pienaar; the two met on the set of the 2012 science fiction movie “Dredd”, while some of the most popular movies on which Jacques has worked include the 2011 science fiction adventure “Green Lantern”, the 2012 action science fiction drama “Chronicle”, and the 2015 action crime adventure “The Gunman”.
Olivia hasn’t spoken of any other men or women whom she’s perhaps been with, and as of September 2022, she’s married to Jacques Pienaar, and doesn’t have children.
Hobbies and other interests
Olivia’s quite active on her ‘Sqirlby’ Instagram account, which is today followed by more than 70,000 people, while she’s uploaded over 250 pictures onto it, mostly taken by herself, as she’s passionate about photography.
She loves nature, and enjoys vacationing at natural locations which aren’t touristic attractions; her two favorite countries to travel to are Norway and Iceland.
Olivia enjoys listening to music in her spare time – her favorite band is The Lumineers, and her favorite songs their singles “Cleopatra” and “Submarines”.
She has her own favorite actor and actress, Clint Eastwood and Emma Watson, while a couple of her favorite films include “Gran Torino”, “The Mule” and “A Fistful of Dollars”.
Olivia works out at the gym nearly every day, mostly because her career requires her to stay in shape; she also practices yoga and meditates on a daily basis.
Age, height and net worth
Olivia’s age is 35. Her hair and eyes are brown, her height’s 5ft 3ins (1.6m) and she weighs around 110lbs (50kgs).
Her net worth’s been estimated at over $2 million as of September 2022.
