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Saturday, July 30, 2011
Olivia Wilde was born on 10th March 1984 in New York City, New York, USA. Who later adopted her acting surname from playwright Oscar Wilde - was raised in Washington D.C. by her father, Andrew, a former National Geographic reporter and author, and her mother, Leslie, a journalist, author and producer for "60 Minutes" (CBS, 1968- ).
Her sister Chloe was a writer, while her grandfather, James Helvick (a.k.a. Claud Cockburn), and her two uncles, Alexander and Patrick Cockburn, were also journalists. Not interested in the family business, Wilde wanted to do act. After graduating from the Georgetown Day School in D.C.
She landed the lead in her first television series, "Skin" (Fox, 2003), a modern day take on "Romeo and Juliette" in which she played the sultry daughter of an adult film producer (Ron Silver) who falls for the son (D.J. Cotrona) of an anti-porn district attorney (Kevin Anderson).
Following a supporting turn in the mildly received Paul Haggis thriller "The Next Three Days" (2010), Wilde played a denizen of an Old West town beset by a surprising alien invasion in the sci-fi/Western hybrid "Cowboys & Aliens" (2011).
Kirstie Alley was born on 12th January 1951, in Wichita, KS. She lived a typical Middle American childhood. Her father Robert owned a lumber company and her mother Lillian was a homemaker to her and her two siblings.
She tried college, dropping out of both Kansas State University and the University of Kansas before deciding what she really wanted to do was act. She moved to Los Angeles in the early 1970s, working as an interior decorator, while at the same time, going out on auditions, albeit with little success.
She auditioned for game shows. She appeared on "Match Game" (CBS, 1973-1982) in 1979 and "Password Plus" (NBC, 1979-1982) in 1980, impressing producers and the audience with her quick wit and dark girl-next-door good looks.
Jerry Seinfeld-produced matrimonial reality/game show "The Marriage Ref" (NBC, 2009- ). In a move that was sure to endear her to even more fans, as well as burn many a calorie, in February 2011 Alley joined the celebrity cast as a contestant on the 12th season of Dancing with the Stars.
