Since making her motion picture debut in 1997 opposite Kevin Costner in the Warner Bros. film The Postman, Olivia Williams has become one of the hardest working actors in Hollywood. In 2002 audiences will see Olivia star in Paramount's film Lucky Break from Full Monty director Peter Cattaneo, and in the independent feature, The Man From Elysian Fields in which she co-stars with Andy Garcia, James Coburn, and Anjelica Huston. Both films premiered at The Sundance Film Festival.

Most often remembered for starring opposite Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment in the 1999 summer blockbuster The Sixth Sense, Olivia also co-starred in the critical favorite Rushmore with Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman, and in the independent feature Four Dogs Playing Poker which was directed by Paul Rachman (co-founder of the Slamdance Film Festival). In the past year, she was seen in the British romantic comedy, Born Romantic, with Catherine McCormack and in the thriller The Body, opposite Antonio Banderas.

Olivia began her career in the theatre. A native of Great Britain, she earned a degree in English at Cambridge University, then studied drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School for two years. Olivia also worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company in both Stratford-upon-Avon and London.

A four-month tour of Richard III, featuring Ian McKellan in the title role, brought her to the United States as a member of the company and to the attention of Kevin Costner, who handpicked her for his film.