Olivia Thirlby

Olivia Thirlby
Thirlby on the set of New York, I Love You, 2008
Born	(1986-10-06) October 6, 1986 (age 25) New York City, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2006–present

Olivia Thirlby (born October 6, 1986) is an American actress best known for her role as Leah, the best friend of Ellen Page's character in the 2007 film Juno.^[1] In June 2008, Thirlby was described by Vanity Fair magazine as a member of "Hollywood's New Wave".^[2]

Personal life

Thirlby was born in New York City, to an advertising executive mother and a contractor father.^[3][4] She was raised in Manhattan's East Village, attending school at Friends Seminary in the city's Gramercy neighborhood, where she graduated in a class of 57 students.^[1] She also attended French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts in upstate New York, and Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts (the Long Island summer arts camp also attended by Natalie Portman and Mariah Carey). She took classes at the American Globe Theatre, and briefly at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London where she completed a stage combat course with the British Academy of Stage and Screen Combat (BASSC).^[5]

Thirlby is a participant in iO Tillett Wright's Self-Evident Truths Project. In a new interview with Brooklyn Magazine (with photos shot by iO), Thirlby publicly came out as bisexual and stated why she decided to be a part of a civil rights photography project that focuses on people who are "anything but 100 percent straight."^[6]

Film career

While still in high school, Thirlby was offered a role in The Secret. In 2006, she made her film debut in United 93 and her television debut in Kidnapped.

In 2007, she starred as Leah, the best friend of the title character, in the critically acclaimed Juno. Around this time, she and her Juno costar Ellen Page were slated to star as the respective title characters of Jack & Diane. The film is a tale of two young women who fall in love, the heat of the romance unlocking lycanthropy in Thirlby's character, Jack. Both dropped out of the film before production, and the cast was replaced numerous times over. As of 2010, Jack & Diane has entered production with an entirely new cast and no involvement from Thirlby or Page.

In the Sundance Audience Award-winning film The Wackness, a mid-1990s period piece, she plays Stephanie, a marijuana-smoking "popular girl" from New York City. Thirlby stars opposite Josh Peck, who plays a drug dealer. Ben Kingsley stars as her stepfather. The film was released in the U.S. on July 3, 2008.^[1]

Thirlby was cast in the Judd Apatow-produced, David Gordon Green-directed stoner comedy, Pineapple Express, as Seth Rogen's character's girlfriend, but was replaced by actress Amber Heard after rehearsing for the film.^[7] She will however reunite with Gordon Green on the animated TV pilot Good Vibes.^[8]

She made her stage debut in Farragut North, a play by Beau Willimon at the Atlantic Theater Company in New York City. The Off-Broadway production ran from October 22, 2008 – November 29, 2008 with official opening on November 12^[9] and transferred to the Geffen Playhouse in June 2009.

Thirlby appears in the 2009 HBO series Bored To Death. She voices promotional video excerpts from the novel Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher which since October 2008 have regularly been posted to YouTube.^[10]

Thirlby appeared in the 2011-released film Margaret. She is attached to star in Christmas In New York for Arlen Faber director John Hindman^[11] as well as For Ellen for Bradley Rust Gray,^[12] She starred also in The No Game, The Manners of Madness and Parts Per Billion.^[13] Thirlby starred in the Russian science-fiction film The Darkest Hour, released in 2011, directed by Chris Gorak, and produced by Timur Bekmambetov.^[14] Thirlby was also cast in the lead role of Max in the upcoming drama comedy The Other Side after Lindsay Lohan reportedly dropped the project.

Alongside Karl Urban in the title role, Thirlby has been cast as Judge Cassandra Anderson in the new film adaptation of Judge Dredd currently in production^[15] and in The Movie being directed by Luke Eberl.

Filmography

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Olivia Thirlby

• Olivia Thirlby at the Internet Movie Database
• Profile at Filmmaker Magazine's "25 New Faces Of Independent Film 2006"