House of the Dragon (HotD) just dropped its seventh episode, edging the series closer to its inevitably explosive season finale.
It has managed to recapture the love fans had for Game of Thrones, something many thought impossible after the disastrous conclusion of the original series.
With it comes a new cast of characters, as it is set around 170 years before the events of Game of Thrones.
One of them is Olivia Cooke, who is playing the older Alicent Hightower, taking over from Emily Carey, who player her younger self in the first five episodes.
Olivia was immediately recognisable for many viewers, having been a successful actress for a number of years.
It hasn’t been smooth sailing for the star though, as she recently admitted to suffering from mental health issues while filming another popular show.
Who is Olivia Cooke?
(Image: Getty Images)
Olivia Cooke is a British actress, having made her start in the acting world since she was a child growing up in Oldham, Greater Manchester.
The 28-year-old went on to study drama at Oldham Sixth Form College, but unlike many of her contemporaries, she doesn’t come from an acting dynasty.
In conversation with Interview magazine, she said: “Do I come from a family of actors? No, I don’t.
“My dad’s an ex-policeman and my mum is a sales representative and they haven’t got the acting bug. Bless them.”
What else has Oliva Cooke starred in?
(Image: SKY)
Olivia Cooke’s acting on-screen acting career kicked off with a recurring role in the BBC’s mini-series Blackout in 2012.
She went on to star in a number of films, including The Signal, The Quiet Ones and the horror-hit Ouija in 2014.
However, one of her main breakout roles was in the TV show Bates Motel, the contemporary prequel to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.
She starred in over 50 episodes as Emma Decody and was taught by a dialect coach to master her American accent.
After she left the series in 2017, she joined the cast of Stephen Spielberg’s Ready Player One in 2018, cementing her as a Hollywood star.
Fans have joked about the star being in both projects, with one on Twitter writing: “Can’t believe that Olivia Cooke is the girl from Ready Player One.”
“Just realised that Olivia Cooke looks so familiar because she was in Ready Player One lmao,” another added.
A third commented: “You know Olivia Cooke after HotD, I know her from Ready Player One. We are not the same bro.”
The following year, she co-starred in the award-winning drama Sound of Metal alongside Riz Ahmed, and now House of the Dragon is her biggest project yet.
Olivia Cooke’s mental health struggles
(Image: GC Images)
After Olivia Cooke secured her role in Bates Motel, it forced her to relocate to Vancouver, Canada, something she later admitted was an “incredibly lonely” experience.
Speaking to Elle UK, Olivia said: “I left home at 18 to shoot in Vancouver, then went back and forth between jobs in the US and home with mum for the next four years.
“It was a lot to deal with as a child. Even though I had amazing experiences, it was incredibly lonely.”
In a new interview with the Guardian, she has since admitted that her hectic scheduling between Bates Motel and other projects in between eventually led to her suffering from depression.
The actress explained: “I’m so grateful for that job, but I had a really tough time on it.
“The way the schedule worked, we all had different storylines, so a lot of my time was spent in this apartment in Vancouver, working once every two weeks.”
She added: “It was a big old lovely cocktail: being homesick and not knowing it, having not stopped since I was 18, being on my own for large swathes of time.”
When the actress was 22 in 2016, Olivia had what she describes as a “full mental breakdown,” saying: “It was bad, bad. Awful, actually.”
She was then asked about the lack of a break in her filmography, with her replying: “Oh, no, I was working all the way through,” she says, with a rueful laugh. “I was very good at hiding it.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
