Olivia Thirlby (born October 6, 1986) is an American screen actress best known for her role as Leah, the best friend of Ellen Page's character in the 2007 film Juno.
In June 2008, Thirlby was described by Vanity Fair magazine as a member of "Hollywood's New Wave", along with the cast of Gossip Girl, The Jonas Brothers, Emma Roberts, Amanda Seyfried, Kristen Stewart, Josh Peck and Christopher Mintz-Plasse.
Thirlby was born in New York City, the daughter of a construction worker. 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 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).
While still at 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.
She was next seen in The Wackness, a mid-1990s period piece, playing Stephanie, a pot-smoking girl from New York City. Thirlby stars opposite Josh Peck, who plays a drug dealer. Sir Ben Kingsley stars as her stepfather. The film won the 2008 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award and was released in the U.S. on July 3, 2008.
Thirlby was cast in the Judd Apatow-produced stoner comedy, Pineapple Express, as Seth Rogen's girlfriend, but was replaced by another actress after rehearsing for the film.
She appears in a number of forthcoming films including Margaret and Safety Glass in 2008 and The Dream of the Romans in 2009.
Thirlby is attached to star in Jack and Diane (opposite Ellen Page, with whom she co-starred in Juno), Parts Per Billion, Legion and Breaking Upwards which will reunite her with Darryl Wein who directed her in Unlocked.
In 2008 she will make her stage debut in Farragut North, a new play by Beau Willimon at the Atlantic Theater, NYC.
She plans to attend college once she has made a sufficient start to her acting career.
