Olivia Thirlby Biography

Olivia J. Thirlby (born October 6, 1986) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Leah in the Oscar-winning film Juno (2007), as Natalie in The Darkest Hour (2011) and as Judge Cassandra Anderson in Dredd (2012). In June 2008, Thirlby was described by Vanity Fair as a member of "Hollywood's New Wave".

Personal life

Thirlby was born in New York City, New York to an advertising executive mother and a contractor father. 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. 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).

Thirlby is a participant in iO Tillett Wright's Self-Evident Truths Project. In an interview with Brooklyn Magazine (with photos shot by iO) in 2011, Thirlby publicly came out as bisexual and stated why she decided to be a part of a photography project that focuses on people who are "anything but 100 percent straight."

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 played Leah in 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 before production, and the cast was replaced numerous times over. 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. The film was released in the U.S. on July 3, 2008.

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. She reunited with Gordon Green on the animated TV pilot Good Vibes.

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 and transferred to the Geffen Playhouse in June 2009.

Thirlby appeared 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. She also appeared in the 2011-released film Margaret. She is attached to star in Christmas In New York as well as For Ellen.

She starred in The No Game and The Manners of Madness. Thirlby starred in the Russian science-fiction film The Darkest Hour, released in 2011, directed by Chris Gorak, and produced by Timur Bekmambetov. Thirlby was also cast in the lead role of Max in the upcoming drama comedy The Other Side.

Alongside Karl Urban in the title role, Thirlby starred as Judge Cassandra Anderson in the 2012 film adaptation of Judge Dredd. She next starred in the indie film Nobody Walks co-starring John Krasinski and Rosemarie DeWitt. She plays Martine, a young artist taken in a couple's home. It premiered at 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	United 93	Nicole Carol Miller
2006	Unlocked	Abby	Short film
2007	Snow Angels	Lila Raybern
2007	Juno	Leah
2007	Love Comes Lately	Sylvia Brokeles
2007	'	Samantha Marris
2008	'	Stephanie
2008	Eve	Kate	Short film
2009	New York, I Love You	Actress	Segment: "Brett Ratner"
2009	'	Anne
2009	Uncertainty	Sophie
2009	Breaking Upwards	Erika
2009	What Goes Up	Tess Sullivan
2009	Solitary Man	Maureen (uncredited)
2011	No Strings Attached	Katie
2011	Margaret	Monica
2011	'	Natalie
2012	Nobody Walks	Martine
2012	Being Flynn	Denise
2012	Dredd	Judge Anderson
2013	Red Knot	Chloe Harrison	Post-production
2013	'		Post-production
2013	It Is What It Is	Jules	Pre-production
2014	Just Before I Go		Filming
2014	5 to 7		Filming
????	Mystery White Boy		Pre-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006-2007	Kidnapped	Aubrey Cain	5 episodes
2009	Bored to Death	Suzanne	4 episodes
2011	Good Vibes	Jeena (voice)	12 episodes

Theater

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	Farragut North	Molly	Linda Gross Theater, NYC
2012	Lonely, I'm Not		Second Stage Theatre