No one could ever forget Olivia Olson’s stunning vocals in Love Actually – but beneath the surface, the child star was dealing with something much darker.
Now aged 30, Olivia appeared in the Christmas film when she was just 10, playing schoolgirl Joanna Anderson in the 2003 Richard Curtis classic.
She was part of a fan-favourite storyline, playing the love interest of adorable Sam (played by Thomas Brodie-Sangster) and closing the film with an incredible performance of All I Want For Christmas Is You.
Now, though, Olivia – who returned to the spotlight in 2019 for The : Celebrity – has revealed the true pressure that came with becoming famous at such a young age.
Speaking to , the actress shared her experiences with stage fright and the bullying she faced at school.
‘I thank my parents for being such a support system, because it’s kind of a miracle I didn’t have a mental breakdown,’ she admitted.
‘The auditioning process is constant rejection and at that age, having casting directors saying literally to your face, when you are 12-years-old, “Oh, we would like you if only you dropped 10lbs”. It’s like, “What?”
‘Any person who says that to a kid needs to re-evaluate, but it’s just how the world worked at the time.’
She shared that the pressure to look a certain way and constant remarks about her appearance led her towards voice-over acting because it ‘didn’t matter what I looked like.’
‘I could let my talent speak for itself,’ she stated.
Olivia went on to say that casting teams didn’t know ‘how to place’ her since she is ‘so ethnically ambiguous.’
‘I would only be put out for Hispanic roles and I would be asked, “Do you speak Spanish?”
‘And I would explain, “No, I’m not Hispanic, so why would I?”
‘No one knew what I was or where to place me.
‘People would ask, “What are you?” It makes you feel like a zoo animal.’
Olivia starred opposite the likes of Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Dame Emma Thompson, Joanna Page, and Liam Neeson in Love Actually, and found it hard to adjust back into normal life after spending so much time away filming.
She said: ‘I was away from my school for so long filming Love Actually and when I came back it was like, “Oh, you’re a celebrity now”.’
Classmates made her feel like she ‘belonged’ there, and as though she was an ‘outcast.’
‘I think all kids feel awkward at times and for me it was heightened by being the only Black kid in a cookie-cutter suburb and being adopted and then, all of a sudden, I was famous.
‘By the time the film came out, I was 12-years-old and in middle school — and that’s when I had all the attention,’ the California-born star added.
‘I had been very confident when I was 10-years-old but I developed crippling stage fright and didn’t want to perform.’
Since her success in Love Actually, Olivia reprised her role in 2017 for the short sequel Red Nose Day Actually.
She is also a writer, having written graphic novels and contributed writing to the Cartoon Network.
