Born in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Olja knew that she wanted to be on the big screen as far back as she can remember. She and her mother moved to Serbia in 1989, leaving her father in Bosnia.

She returned in 1991 to stay with her father for a while when, in 1992, civil war broke out in Bosnia. Olja’s town was surrounded and she would be shot dead if she tried to leave. Luckily, through Olja’s grandfather’s connections with the Yugoslav army, Olja was able to board a Serbian cargo jet and flee the war zone.

Olja spent the next four years finishing high school in Serbia, but, as soon as she graduated, she left her motherland for New York City so that she might pursue her dream of acting.

When she got to the States, she studied and practiced her craft everywhere, but her life was changed when she was able to study the Meisner technique with the renowned William Espers for two years.