Olivia Hussey

Early life

Hussey was born Olivia Osuna in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the first child of Andreas Osuna, an Argentine opera singer, and Joy Hussey, a secretary originally from England. Her parents divorced when she was two years old, and at age seven, Hussey moved with her mother and younger brother to London, where she spent the remainder of her early life. She was raised Roman Catholic.

In London, she attended the Italia Conti Academy drama school for five years. At age thirteen, she began acting professionally in theatre.

Early work; Romeo and Juliet

Assuming her mother's maiden name as her stage name, Hussey appeared, at age thirteen, on the London stage as Jenny in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, opposite Vanessa Redgrave. It was during the run of this play that Italian film director Franco Zeffirelli first spotted her because of her beauty and theatrical skill. At age fifteen, she was chosen out of 500 actresses to star as Juliet in Zeffirelli's 1968 film version of Romeo and Juliet, opposite Leonard Whiting's Romeo. Prior to her role in Romeo and Juliet, she had appeared in minor roles in two films: The Battle of the Villa Fiorita and Cup Fever (both 1965), and an episode of the television series Drama 61–67 (1964). In 1969, she won a special David di Donatello Award and the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actress for her performance in Romeo and Juliet.

In 1971, she appeared in the British drama All the Right Noises, followed by the crime film The Summertime Killer (1972), and the musical Lost Horizon (1973), opposite Liv Ullmann, John Gielgud, and Sally Kellerman. In 1974, she played the leading role of Jess in the Canadian horror film, Black Christmas (1974), which became influential as a forerunner of the slasher film genre of horror films. She played Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the 1977 television production of Jesus of Nazareth (her second work for director Zeffirelli). In 1978 she played Rosalie Otterbourne in Death on the Nile with Peter Ustinov, and appeared in The Cat and the Canary (1979). She also starred as Marit in the Japanese film Virus (1980), and played Rebecca of York in the 1982 remake of Ivanhoe (1982); the same year, she had a lead role in the Australian horror film Turkey Shoot (1982).

In 1987, Hussey appeared in a clip for the Michael Jackson video Liberian Girl, among others, who also included Steven Spielberg, John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Whoopi Goldberg, Lou Ferrigno, and Billy Dee Williams. In 1990, Hussey appeared in two horror projects, playing Norma Bates, the mother of Norman Bates, in Psycho IV: The Beginning, a prequel to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960), and in the Miniseries It, an adaptation of the Stephen King novel.

Later roles and voice work

In 2003 she played the lead in a film adaptation of the life of Mother Teresa, for which she was presented with a Character & Morality in Entertainment Award on 12 May 2007 in Hollywood. She stated in an interview that it had been her dream and wish to portray the role of Mother Teresa of Calcutta since she finished her role as the Virgin Mary in Jesus of Nazareth. In 2015 Hussey and Leonard Whiting reunited as on-screen partners in the film Social Suicide (2015), the only film that they both appeared in since Romeo and Juliet (1968).

Hussey has also worked as a voice actress, and was nominated for "Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Female Performer in an Animated Television Production" at the Annie Awards for her work in Batman Beyond, as Talia. She voiced the character of Kasan Moor in the PC/Nintendo64 game, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron (1998) and was also in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game Star Wars: The Old Republic (2011) as Jedi Master Yuon Par. She also lent her voice to Star Wars: Force Commander in 2000.

Personal life

She quit acting for two years following the success of Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet due to an ongoing struggle with agoraphobia. In 1971 Hussey married actor Dean Paul Martin, son of the singer Dean Martin. They had a son, Alexander Gunther Martin (later an actor), in 1973, before divorcing in 1978. Dean Paul Martin died in 1987 when his National Guard F-4 Phantom jet fighter crashed in California's San Bernardino Mountains during a snowstorm.

In 1980 Hussey married Japanese musician Akira Fuse in two ceremonies, one at home in Los Angeles and a second, an Indian wedding, in Miami. She gave birth to her son Max in 1983. She divorced Fuse in 1989.

In 1991 Hussey married American rock musician David Glen Eisley, a son of the late actor Anthony Eisley. In October 1993 she gave birth to her daughter, India Eisley. India, also an actress, played her first major role in the American teen drama The Secret Life of the American Teenager in 2008.

Awards and nominations

Annie Awards

David di Donatello Awards

Golden Globe Awards

Laurel Awards