Olivia Olson

Olivia Rose Olson (born May 21, 1992) is an American actress and singer-songwriter, mostly known for her voice roles as Vanessa Doofenshmirtz in Phineas and Ferb and Marceline the Vampire Queen in Adventure Time. She also played the character of Joanna in the 2003 film Love Actually and its 2017 short sequel Red Nose Day Actually.

Olivia Olson
Olson at 2015 Magic City ComicCon
Born
Olivia Rose Olson

(1992-05-21) May 21, 1992
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation
  • Actress
  • singer-songwriter
Years active2003–present
Musical career
Genres
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • piano
  • guitar
  • bass

Olson is also a writer, contributing a section to the best-seller Adventure Time Encyclopedia and an upcoming book for Cartoon Network.

Personal life

Olson was adopted at birth and raised in Los Angeles, California. She lives with her mother, brother and father, comedy writer Martin Olson. Olson graduated from Agoura High School in 2010. She is of Jamaican and Swedish descent.

Career

Olson has appeared as a singer and actress on television shows and in live theatre, including Comedy Central Stage, the HBO Theater, The Fake Gallery, and the Disney Channel series Phineas and Ferb.[1][2] Olson has also appeared on The Tracy Morgan Show and on The Ellen DeGeneres Show singing with DeGeneres, actor Jack Black and Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth. She was a cast member and singer on two very popular animated series: Cartoon Network's series Adventure Time,[2] playing Marceline the Vampire Queen/Singer in some episodes and on Disney's animated series Phineas and Ferb playing Vanessa Doofenshmirtz, the sarcastic daughter of the evil Dr. Doofenshmirtz. In Adventure Time, her father, Martin Olson, plays Marceline's dad Hunson Abadeer and Marceline sang a short song about him eating her French fries.[3] She also sings a number of songs in Phineas and Ferb, including the duet "Busted!" with Ashley Tisdale as well as popular solo songs, including "I'm Me", "Not So Bad a Dad", "I'm Lindana and I Wanna Have Fun", "Happy New Year" and many others, including her song in the Phineas and Ferb Christmas Vacation special "Got That Christmas Feeling". She has written songs for Phineas and Ferb and has written and recorded her own songs with renowned music producers Rick Nowels, Camara Kambon and Hollywood jazz great Rob Mullins.

2003: Love Actually

Olson rose to fame for her role as Joanna Anderson in the 2003 holiday film Love Actually, singing the song "All I Want for Christmas Is You". Her singing was praised, with director Richard Curtis stating in the commentary in the music section of the Love Actually DVD that Olson's singing was so perfect, they were afraid the audience would not believe that a ten-year-old could really sing the way she did and would assume she was lip-synching to Mariah Carey's voice. They had to train her so her singing would sound more believable, and add the sounds of inhalations to the track.[2] This led to guest spots on The Ellen Show, The Tracy Morgan Show and singing with Jack Black and Kristin Chenoweth. Olson also posted original songs on her YouTube account.

2008–2017: Phineas and Ferb, and Beauty Is Chaos

From 2008 to 2015, Olson voiced the recurring character Vanessa Doofenshmirtz in the Disney animated series Phineas and Ferb along with actor Thomas Sangster (Ferb Fletcher), who played Joanna's love interest Sam in Love Actually. Her character is described as a punk goth, the sarcastic daughter of the not-so-evil Dr. Doofenshmirtz. She occasionally attempts to thwart her father's evil schemes regarding her mother, always ending in failure. Although she is a sarcastic and spoiled teenager, she also has a kind heart and loves her parents. Olson's father, Martin, was a head writer for the first season of the show, and one of the main songwriters at Disney throughout the series.

2013-2018: Steven Universe, Adventure Time and Phineas and Ferb

In 2010, Olson got the role of Marceline the Vampire Queen on the animated Cartoon Network series Adventure Time. The series has been a commercial and popular success and her character is one of the most popular ones. Her character is similar to that of Vanessa on Phineas and Ferb, in which she has problems with her evil father, along with their dark personalities. Marceline is a fun-loving, mischief-seeking 1,005-year-old vampire who looks like a teenager. She has an involved back story that is explored throughout the show. She first appeared as an antagonist, but later appears to be the main characters' (Finn and Jake's) friend. Like Phineas and Ferb, she sings often on the show, including the popular song "The Fry Song", in which she sings about her father eating her fries and how sad she is, even though it is something much deeper. In the Adventure Time mini-series "Stakes", Olson performs the popular song "Everything Stays", which was revealed by Olson and Rebecca Sugar at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con.[4] Her character has become popular with fans and there is a wide range of Marceline products available, such as shirts, action figures, key chains, plushes, wallets, belts, necklaces and bracelets, etc.

Olson at a convention in 2014.

In 2015 Olivia and her father Martin Olson co-authored a novel for the series, Adventure Time's: The Enchiridion & Marcy's Super Secret Scrapbook. Olivia wrote her section in first person as her character Marceline. The book was illustrated by artists including Tony Millionaire, Renee French, Celeste Moreno and Sean Tejaratchi.

Olivia lends her voice to the fourth Powerpuff Girl Bliss on Cartoon Network's reboot of The Powerpuff Girls. The newest member of the series has sparked a lot of talk surrounding the character's ethnicity. Bliss is the older sister of the original three girls yet is drawn significantly darker than the other Powerpuff Girls.

She frequently posts original music on her YouTube account Olivia Olson. On July 18, 2013, Olson released her debut EP Beauty Is Chaos.[5] Olson has also performed the song "Haven't You Noticed (I'm a Star)", which was featured on the September 17, 2015 episode of Steven Universe entitled "Sadie's Song". It was later featured in the Steven Universe mini-episode "Gem Karaoke", released on October 3, 2016.[6] She appears at Comic-Cons and pop conventions around the world with other cast members from her shows.

2018–present: Nowhere Land and The X Factor

Olson's latest album Nowhere Land was released on June 22, 2018. She worked with K-pop producers Kairos Music Group and producer/singer/songwriter John Defeo on the project. In October 2019, she began competing in The X Factor: Celebrity, being the second act to be evicted from the live shows on October 26, 2019.[7]

Discography

Albums
  • The Father-Daughter Album of Unspeakable Beauty (with Martin Olson) (2013)
  • Nowhere Land (2018)

Extended plays

Soundtrack albums

Filmography

Film
YearShowRoleNotes
2003Love ActuallyJoanna Anderson
2011Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension2nd Dimension Vanessa Doofenshmirtz (deleted scene)Voice role
2020 Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe Vanessa Doofenshmirtz Voice role

Television
YearShowRoleNotes
2004The Tracy Morgan ShowJuliaOne episode, "Career Day"
2006Zoey 101Girl #1Episode: "Broadcast Views"
2008–2015Phineas and FerbVanessa DoofenshmirtzVoice role
2010–2018Adventure TimeMarceline the Vampire QueenVoice role
2017–presentMilo Murphy's LawVanessa Doofenshmirtz, additional voicesVoice role
2017–2019The Powerpuff GirlsBlisstina UtoniumVoice role
Episode: "Power of Four", "Never Been Blissed", "In the Doghouse" and "Lights Out"
2017Red Nose Day ActuallyJoanna
2019The X Factor: CelebrityHerself / Contestant
2020Adventure Time: Distant LandsMarceline the Vampire QueenVoice role
2020Robot ChickenMal, Evie, Yellow Power RangerVoice role; episode: "Sundancer Craig in: 30% of the Way to Crying"

Video games
YearTitleRole
2013Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I Don't Know!Marceline the Vampire Queen
2015Adventure Time: Finn & Jake Investigations
Lego Dimensions
2018Adventure Time: Pirates of the Enchiridion
gollark: Do you know that this isn't just a regular person who is also in some sort of army thing? Prior experience elsewhere or something?
gollark: Unless people do actual recruitering or advertising it is not an issue.
gollark: Yes, indeed.
gollark: He doesn't seem to have done anything very recruitery or bad yet.
gollark: > start learning some coding styro, i want some what normal people hereSoon: laser drone swarms flying around Illinois.

References
  1. "Twitter". mobile.twitter.com.
  2. Bierly, Mandi (December 17, 2009). "All 'Love Actually' scene-stealer Olivia Olson wants for graduation is a record deal". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 9, 2011.
  3. Bradley, Bill (October 27, 2014). "8 Facts You Didn't Know About 'Adventure Time,' Even If You Were Born In Ooo". The Huffington Post. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
  4. robsugar (July 13, 2015), Everything Stays, retrieved March 15, 2017
  5. "Beauty Is Chaos - EP by Olivia Olson on iTunes". iTunes. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
  6. "Haven't You Noticed (I'm A Star)". Steven Universe Wiki. N.p., 2016. Web. October 12, 2016.
  7. Duke, Simon (October 12, 2019). "When is X Factor: Celebrity on? ITV show returns with star lineup". Evening Chronicle. Retrieved October 12, 2019.
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