Olivia Wilde is a Hollywood actress. She plays Thirteen in the US television series House. Since September, Brazilians have been able to see Wilde at the cinema, in Cowboys and Aliens with Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig.

THE IRISH CONNECTION
Wilde is an Irish-American. Her real name is Olivia Jane Cockburn. Her parents, Andrew and Leslie Cockburn, are respected international journalists. Wilde was born in New York, and in Washington, DC. She spent her summers at the family home in Ardmore, Ireland. She says: “I love Ireland: !” Wilde studied at Dublin’s Gaiety School of Acting. She discovered writers like Samuel Beckett, Sean O’Casey and Oscar Wilde. In fact, her is in honour of Oscar Wilde.

HAIR STYLE
What makes Olivia Wilde special? She ate 33 pancakes to win an eating competition in Australia. She’s a natural blonde, but prefers to be a brunette. She says: “. They don’t assume I’m stupid!” She was married to an Italian aristocrat. She film director Tao Ruspoli when she was just 18 years old. Ruspoli is the son of Alessandro Ruspoli, Prince of Cerveteri. Strangely, they got married on a bus. The ended this year.

AMBIGUOUS
Wilde’s acting career began in television. She became famous as Alex Kelly in the American TV series The O.C. The show created the ambiguity of Wilde’s sexuality. Her character kisses co-star Mischa Barton. This notorious scene is still on YouTube. But her most famous role is as Thirteen in House. Thirteen is a mystery. Her real name is . Her sexuality is ambiguous. She even disappears. Wilde seems confused by her role, too. She says: “I’m now convinced that I’m a doctor. If someone has a , I try to diagnose the problem.”

MOVIE CAREER
Wilde has also starred in films such as Turistas, Tron: Legacy and The Next Three Days with Russell Crowe. Recently . She returned to co-star in House. There is Cowboys and Aliens. And she stars in films, including the movie In Time, a romantic comedy The Change-Up, and a , Blackbird.

OLIVIA SAYS...
Do you have a problem smiling for photographs? Wilde has a brilliant suggestion. Imagine someone you in the stomach. The result is a , that really does look like a smile. Don’t imagine an extremely hard punch! Perhaps Prince William used the technique at his recent wedding, but the memory of the punch became distant, and his smile slowly lost focus.

WILDE'S LITERARY FAMILY
Her grandfather, Claud Cockburn (1904-81), was a famous journalist. He wrote for the London Times as a foreign correspondent. He also wrote , including . He was briefly married to Jean Ross, a writer and actress. Ross famously met Christopher Isherwood in 1930s Berlin. She was a cabaret singer. In fact, she was the inspiration for Sally Bowles in Isherwood’s 1939 novel Goodbye to Berlin. Liza Minnelli starred as Sally Bowles in the 1973 movie Cabaret.