Olivia Cooke: 5 Things About The Actress Playing Adult Alicent In ‘House Of The Dragon’

House of the Dragon is jumping guardant 10 years, and determination volition beryllium 2 large casting changes. One of those changes is Alicent Hightower. Olivia Cooke is assuming the relation originated by Emily Carey.

So, who is Olivia Cooke? The 28-year-old has appeared successful respective critically-acclaimed shows and films. HollywoodLife has rounded up what you request to cognize astir Olivia.

Olivia Cooke and Rhys Ifans arsenic Alicent and Otto Hightower. (HBO)

1. Olivia plays big Alicent Hightower successful House of the Dragon.

Like Emma D’Arcy with Rhaenyra Targaryen, Olivia volition beryllium taking implicit the relation of Queen Alicent Hightower, King Viserys’ 2nd wife. Olivia volition marque her archetypal quality arsenic Alicent successful occurrence 6 of House of the Dragon and volition proceed to play the quality for the duration of the series. Olivia revealed to EW that co-showrunners Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik told her that Alicent is “like a pistillate for Trump.”

Rhaenyra and Alicent, erstwhile adjacent friends, volition go bitter enemies arsenic a Targaryen civilian warfare brews astir them. “Rhaenyra tin conscionable get distant with anything, and it’s truthful fine,” Olivia continued. “The king turns a implicit unsighted eye, whereas Alicent has ever had to locomotion this tightrope for her full full life. Just the injustice of it that she feels, until things hap and she realizes that nary of it f**king matters. She looks astir her family, and they’re each f**ked up. She’s like, ‘I’ve been truthful cleanable each my life. I haven’t taken a measurement wrong, and it doesn’t f**king matter.’ I deliberation what we spot successful her improvement is this implicit existential crisis.”

2. Olivia’s breakout relation was successful Bates Motel.

Before she was Alicent Hightower, Olivia was champion known for her relation arsenic Emma Decody, Norman’s champion person who suffers from cystic fibrosis, successful the series Bates Motel. She besides starred arsenic Becky Sharp successful the 2018 constricted bid Vanity Fair. Her movie credits see Ouija, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, and Ready Player One.

3. Olivia is from England.

Olivia grew up successful Oldham, Greater Manchester, which is located successful England. She started acting arsenic a kid and went connected to survey play astatine Oldham Sixth Form College. She presently lives successful London.

Olivia Cooke astatine the ‘House of the Dragon’ premiere. (Nils Jorgensen/Shutterstock)

4. Olivia learned however to sing screamo for Sound of Metal.

Olivia starred successful the critically-acclaimed movie Sound of Metal other Riz Ahmed. Olivia transformed into a metallic rocker for her relation arsenic Lou Berger. Margaret Chardiet of the band Pharmakon was a mentor to Olivia during filming. “She taught maine however to play guitar, however to scream,” Olivia told Cinema Blend. “We wrote the lyrics for the opus unneurotic adjacent though you can’t rather perceive what I’m saying and she was conscionable amazing. And past Riz and I were brought unneurotic to immerse these skills we conscionable learned and to go a afloat realized band. It was fantastic to person that acquisition due to the fact that we were past truly bonded by the sheer panic of having to sometime soon execute it and it made the narration we had connected surface that overmuch much nuanced and deep.”

5. Olivia appeared successful a One Direction euphony video.

Olivia was featured successful One Direction’s 2012 “Autumn Term” circuit video. She was seen getting a piggyback thrust from Harry Styles. The histrion admitted that she wasn’t starstruck by the set erstwhile she filmed the video. “I deliberation they had lone been on X Factor, truthful I didn’t truly cognize who they were. No, it was conscionable a day’s enactment for a spot of other pouch money,” she told Digital Spy.