Olivia Cooke is a 32-year-old actress from Oldham, Greater Manchester. She is currently starring as Alicent Hightower in HBO’s series House of the Dragon.
Best childhood memory?
Oldham Theatre Workshop. I went there from the age of eight to 17 and it was just bliss. It was this council-run workshop. It gave me somewhere I could grow as a little person, develop my personality and play in a safe environment. We put on two shows a year – a summer show and a Christmas show – and I’d be there for four hours on a Monday and four hours on a Wednesday, from about 5pm until 9pm. It sounds like a lot, but I looked forward to it so much. You could be yourself but also try on different personalities. You weren’t boxed in, like you sometimes can be at school. I think opportunities like that should be mandatory for all kids. It would help boys explore their emotions in a safe environment, where they’re not judged and don’t have to posture. They can just be.
Best lesson you’ve learnt?
To take time to do nothing. The world is such an overwhelming place at the moment, so sometimes you need to simplify everything for a couple of weeks and get back to basics. Pick up a book, slow your brain down, don’t look at the news constantly, and relax your nervous system. If you don’t take breaks, your body will make you.
I’ve had huge impostor syndrome. But now I’m 32, my career is okay, I’m in a stable place, I’ve had lots of therapy, and only this year have I been able to say: “Olivia, just rest.” For me, the best way to switch off is running a bath and bringing whatever book I’m reading. There’s something about the almost weightlessness of the water and the black and white of the page that really calms me. It slows my brain down.
Best moment working with Steven Spielberg?
Watching how his mind worked. He’s a genius. He would be in post-production on the film he’d just finished, with an editing suite set up to the side of the set, so between set-ups he’d go and do some editing, then come back and direct us.
With Ready Player One, it was almost like he was directing two films at once because there was the simulation world and the real world. He’d be making up new sequences on the spot for us to improvise in motion-capture suits, while also working out how they would cut with real-life reactions we’d already shot. I thought, I don’t understand how you do this. He was intimidating because he’s such a genius, but he was also so lovely.
Best thing about playing Alicent Hightower in House of the Dragon?
She’s so complex. There’s a storm brewing inside her at all times, but she’s trying to remain as serene as possible, even though she sometimes fails, and it all comes to the surface and she explodes. My favourite thing is getting to do the withering looks. The barely concealed withering looks. The side-eyes, the disgust, the disdain underneath it all. That is very fun.
Best personal characteristic/habit?
It’s probably my best and my worst, but I think my lack of mystique. I want everyone to feel comfortable, so I end up divulging things. I can’t do small talk at all. I started an interview yesterday and they said: “How have you been?” and I went: “I had shingles.” Sometimes I just don’t have the ability to do the polished answer. I can’t pretend everything’s fine if it isn’t. It feels disingenuous.
Best challenge you’ve faced?
Maintaining stamina within the industry. I never thought I’d get a sniff at this world. I thought maybe I’d do theatre, if I was lucky – I never imagined film or television. So, to still be here after 14 years, and to have remained hopefully not jaded, still kind and empathetic, and not let it change me too much, I think that’s something I’m proud of.
Worst modern obsession?
Climbing Everest. I know there’s a huge infrastructure around it, and a lot of money goes through the Nepalese villages and supports the Sherpas. But I just can’t understand the excess of it. The litter, the gear, the expense, people queuing up on K2 with a sheer drop beside them. It feels like wealth-flexing to spend £100,000 climbing a mountain. I don’t understand it.
Worst fear for the future?
The climate crisis. We’re in London at the moment and we’ve just had record-breaking temperatures in May. People talk about climate refugees from more southern countries, but it could be here too, and I don’t think people recognise that. It feels like no one is doing enough to mitigate rising temperatures. Maybe it isn’t even that things have taken a step backwards; maybe people are just being more transparent now. Maybe there were always smoke and mirrors, and they never really intended to reduce the use of oil and gas. You still try to do your bit. I was washing out a yogurt pot last night to put it in the recycling and thinking: “Really?” But you try.
Worst auditioning experience?
When I was about 18, 19 or 20, I used to audition in Los Angeles a lot, and there was always this same actress in before me. I won’t name her, but she used to make it her mission to psych me out. She’d be looking at me, then doing yoga and stretches on the floor, then performatively reading her lines. One time she came out of the audition, and to be fair, she did get the role, but the walls were really thin, so I’d heard the whole thing. She came out, looked at me, and then wiped away a tear. I was like, “For f--k’s sake.” It was so over the top. I would see her constantly. After a while I almost became excited to see what she’d do next.
Worst thing about the entertainment industry?
The scrutiny is hard, especially the scrutiny on women – on our bodies, ageing, sex appeal. I’m just trying to tell a story and make a good film that people hopefully enjoy, but then there’s this gaze afterwards, when you have to do so much press. The celebrity side of the industry has become much more public, and I find that difficult. I’m always asking my publicist: what is the least press I can do? There’s more pressure now on the celebrity aspect of being an actor, and that can inform whether people want to hire you. I don’t want to subscribe to that at all.
Worst thing about social media?
When it first started, it was a really nice way to see what your friends were doing. Then I realised I was being fed suggested stories and suggested posts from people I didn’t even follow. What’s the point? Early Facebook was unselfconscious. You’d put embarrassing pictures up and play around with filters. Now it’s very navel-gazey. Everyone looks like they’re doing the same thing, everyone looks the same, and it’s very boring.
Worst thing in the world right now?
We’re living in a time that feels so catastrophic and dangerous. It’s always children, the innocents, who are affected most by conflicts started by war-hungry, power-hungry adults. I was really honoured to be asked to be an ambassador for the charity War Child. They provide physical care to children caught up in conflicts around the world, but also psychological help to try to mitigate as much trauma as possible so children can build a healthy life. So many children have their education interrupted by war, and War Child works to create infrastructure such as teachers and safe places where children can still learn. Once the news has shifted and attention moves away from a conflict, those children are still there.
Born and raised in Oldham, Greater Manchester, Olivia Cooke began acting as a child at Oldham Theatre Workshop before landing screen roles while still in her teens. She broke through internationally in Bates Motel and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, before starring in Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One and the Oscar-winning Sound of Metal. She lives in London.
Cooke is supporting War Child, the charity helping children and families affected by conflict through care, psychological support and education because globally, one in five children are affected by conflict warchild.org.uk