1. Actress and activist Olivia Wilde was born Olivia Jane Cockburn on March 10, 1984, in New York City to Leslie Cockburn and Andrew Cockburn.
2. The nature of her parents work – her parents, Andrew and Leslie Cockburn, were international journalists – exposed Wilde to the world in a way much different than most children.
3. Wilde was raised in Washington, D.C., where she was accustomed to many celebrity and intellectual guests at her home.
4. Wilde’s summers were spent in Ireland with her grandparents, who were also journalists.
5. She was fond of the performing arts and attended summer courses at the Gaiety School of Acting while in Ireland.
6. A dual citizen of the country, Wilde would later adopt her stage name after Irish playwright Oscar Wilde.
7. Following high school at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, Wilde was accepted to Bard College in upstate New York, but instead moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting.
8. She began working at a casting agency for casting director Mali Finn in 2002. Eventually, after a short time spent executing menial tasks as an office assistant, Finn suggested that Wilde audition for her.
9. In 2003, Wilde was cast as the lead on the Jerry Bruckenheimer series Skin.
10. In this Romeo and Juliet-esque drama, Wilde portrayed a porn star producer’s daughter who was star-crossed lovers with a district attorney’s son. The show was short-lived, but showcased Wilde’s talents.
11. The actress went on to famously play the controversial role of a bisexual teenager on the hit television series The O.C.
12. She landed roles in such films as The Girl Next Door (2004) and Alpha Dog (2006) before appearing on the 2007 TV series The Black Donellys.
13. She went on to play the memorable role of Dr. Remy “Thirteen Hadley” on the popular series House.
14. Wilde’s unique beauty and dynamic acting abilities have made her desirable to producers, and it doesn’t look like that’s going to change anytime soon.
15. In 2009, Wilde was awarded the No. 1 spot on Maxim magazine’s “Hot 100” list.
16. Wilde met and married Italian filmmaker, musician and photographer Tao Ruspoli, the son of Prince Alessandro Ruspoli, shortly after moving to Los Angeles, California, when she was just 19 years old. In 2011, after eight years of marriage, Wilde split from her husband.
17. Nine months later, she met comedian and actor Jason Sudeikis at Saturday Night Live after-party.
18. The two were engaged in January 2013, and Wilde gave birth to their first child on April 20, 2014. Wilde announced her baby news in a tweet: “Ladies and gentlemen, Otis Alexander Sudeikis has LEFT the building! (I’m the building).”
19. Following the devastating earthquake in 2010 in Haiti—where Wilde had visited with her parents as a child—the actress became passionate about rebuilding the country and joined the nonprofit organization Artists for Peace and Justice, which aims to help provide health care and education to the people of Haiti.
20. Wilde’s birth name is Olivia Jane Cockburn. In high school, she took the stage name “Wilde” from Irish author Oscar Wilde. It was also a way to honor the writers in her family, several of whom also use pen names.
21. Through her father’s family, she is also a descendant of Sir George Cockburn (pictured), who was responsible for raiding American towns and burning down Washington D.C. as a Navy Admiral in the War of 1812.
22. When Wilde was just a toddler, she sneaked out of bed during one of her parents dinner parties. Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, who eventually noticed the youngster and shooed her off to bed.
23. She had originally auditioned for Barton’s role on the TV series “The O.C.”!
24. She loves cooking and going out to dinner and once said she’d rather take ten people out to dinner than buy an expensive outfit.
25. Received a personal phone call from candidate Barack Obama thanking her for participating in his presidential campaign.
26. One of her paternal great-great-grandfathers, Henry Arthur Blake, was Governor of Hong Kong.
27. Olivia Wilde entered an eating competition in Australia when she was younger and proudly admits to having eaten 33 pancakes in 20 minutes, beating out what she called ‘giant men,’ according to Women’s Health magazine. Wilde says she did it because they said a girl could never enter the competition.
28. Olivia Wilde told Women’s Health magazine that her celebrity crush is Angelina Jolie.
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