'I asked Mick Jagger to leave the dinner table': The world according to Olivia Wilde



The actress on ordering the Rolling Stone frontman about, being phoned by Barack Obama and getting married on a school bus

'I'm very comfortable with my sexuality. I've always been comfortable in my skin and I don't shy away from sexualised characters,' said Olivia Wilde

Best known for starring opposite Hugh Laurie in the world’s most-watched TV show, the U.S. medical drama House, Olivia Wilde hails from a long line of intellectual heavyweights. Growing up in Washington DC, the daughter of Andrew Cockburn, an Irish journalist, and Leslie Cockburn, a TV producer and writer, Wilde was immersed in the worlds of literature and politics – British writer Christopher Hitchens was her babysitter.



She spent her summers in Ardmore, County Waterford in Ireland, and at 18 changed her surname from Cockburn to Wilde. ‘It’s not a renunciation of my parents – God, no. I go around bragging about my incredible family. But I wanted a pen name and I was inspired by Oscar Wilde, as he never compromised his identity even in the face of persecution. And he’s a fellow Irishman.’

Still only 26, she recently landed her biggest film role so far, playing Quorra, a tough cyber-warrior, opposite Jeff Bridges in next month’s sci-fi blockbuster Tron: Legacy. And next year she’ll appear alongside Daniel Craig in Cowboys & Aliens. Wilde lives in Venice, Los Angeles, with her husband Tao Ruspoli, a film-maker and flamenco guitar player.

My husband’s father was a prince.



I’d always secretly wanted to be Italian, so marrying Tao was my way of slipping into having an Italian heritage. They have a castle from the 15th century. His father was a prince, but also an incredible poet – he was friends with Salvador Dalí; he was part of that community of artists. Tao and I connected because we’re both half European. He’d spent summers in Italy and I spent summers in Ireland. I love going to Italy – what’s better than the Amalfi Coast? We eat, swim, ride around on a little Motorino… all the things that make Italy the best place on Earth.

'I used Joan of Arc as a model for my character in Tron: Legacy,' said Olivia who playes Quorra, a 300-year-old warrior virgin who lives in the Grid, the alternative cyber universe

I got married on a school bus in Venice Beach.

We were hippies and we were living on a school bus, and it was a totally spontaneous decision. At the wedding we had our two best friends and the justice of the peace. My parents found out months later, but they weren’t upset. We had a big party at their farm in Virginia and a party at Tao’s family castle in Italy as well.

I’m infamous in my family for asking Mick Jagger to leave the dinner table.

I was five. Because my parents were well-known journalists, our house in Washington DC was always full of artists, intellectuals and politicians. We had an extraordinary long table in our dining room that was always packed with people, and my mum would make salmon for them. Mick is a friend of my parents and came to the house when he was touring. He was sitting in what was usually my seat at the table. I came downstairs not caring who this person was and demanded that he vacate my seat. He just looked at me and said, ‘Go to bed,’ in a very sweet way. I knew from the way everyone reacted that there was something special about this guy. Everyone was laughing because I demanded that Mick Jagger leave the table.

'I'm infamous in my family for asking Mick Jagger to leave the dinner table,' said Olivia

I’ve been phoned by the President.



I met Barack Obama in 2007 and signed up to work on his election campaign. I was eager to be a part of it; it felt like a revolution. A few weeks later I was outside my trailer on the set of House and my phone rang. A voice said, ‘Olivia, this is Barack Obama.’ His voice is very easy to recognise. He said, ‘I just want to thank you for agreeing to go to Iowa to campaign,’ and I said, ‘I’d be honoured. I can’t wait – I’m very excited.’ I was very professional the whole time we spoke, then I hung up the phone – or so I thought – and started squealing like a schoolgirl for about 15 seconds. Later my friend, who was with Barack because she worked on the campaign, said that he listened to the shrieking and laughed the entire time.

My family are all incredible.



Evelyn Waugh was my grandfather’s cousin. My parents are extraordinary writers and journalists. My sister Chloe is a civil-rights lawyer. I didn’t know my grandfather Claud Cockburn, but he was an amazing journalist as well. He was friends with Graham Greene and fought in the Spanish Civil War with Ernest Hemingway.

I used Joan of Arc as a model for my character in Tron: Legacy.



Quorra is a 300-year-old warrior virgin who lives in the Grid, the alternative cyber universe. I wanted her to be like a cat, really strong and nimble, and that’s certainly not my natural state. So it was hard. I was still shooting House while we were prepping for the movie, so I’d be a doctor by day and a martial artist by night. I had to keep my energy up until 6am, doing roundhouse kicks while wearing a neoprene-and-rubber suit and 4in heels, and holding two weapons. And I had to do all that with a battery pack on my back and electroluminescent lamps running over my body.

I’m very comfortable with my sexuality.

I’ve always been comfortable in my skin and I don’t shy away from sexualised characters. I’ve played a bisexual and I’ve played straight women. I’m attracted to characters that have a unique perspective on the world. The actresses I look up to, Katharine Hepburn, Meryl Streep and Sigourney Weaver, have been beautiful and powerful, and my definition of sexy is someone who is confident.

'People think Hugh Laurie's going to be like his character House, and he's not at all,' said Olivia

People think Hugh Laurie’s going to be like his character House, and he’s not at all.



He couldn’t be gentler or nicer. I was really intimidated when I met him and I didn’t know what to expect. I thought, ‘What if he’s a nihilistic, grumpy man?’, but on day one I realised he’s an absolute pleasure and he is very funny.

Food is my biggest extravagance.



I went to cooking school when I was 12 in Ireland; I love cooking and going out to dinner. My friends say, ‘Olivia, you’re so willing to spend money on food, but you’re so cheap when it comes to buying yourself treats.’ I’d rather take ten people out to dinner than buy an expensive outfit.

I hate gyms with a passion.

I find them very boring. But I love to dance and I love to ride my bike and hike. Jon Favreau, the director of my new film Cowboys & Aliens, taught me how to paddle-board. But there have been great white attacks off the coast of LA this year, so that’s put me off the sport a bit!

Growing up I really felt more Irish than American.



I went to drama school in Dublin and spent every summer in Ireland. Fishing with my father in Ardmore is my favourite childhood memory. My dad taught me to gut the fish and throw the guts to the seagulls. Then we’d eat mackerel all week – mackerel fishcakes and mackerel pâté.

The great thing about earning more money is that I get to give more away.

