Alison Oliver

Oliver was born in Cork, the third largest city in Ireland, on 3 June 1997.^[1][2] She was initially raised in Ballintemple in Cork before moving with her family to Blackrock, also in Cork, when she was young. Her mother is a social worker and her father worked in the motor trade.^[2][5] She is the youngest of three daughters.^[6] She attended Scoil Mhuire, a private school in Cork, and took drama, singing and dancing lessons at The Performer's Academy and the Cork School of Dance. She applied to Trinity College Dublin's drama school The Lir Academy, but was invited to take a year-long foundation course in Acting and Theatre first. She auditioned again after completing the course,^[2][5] going on to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in acting in 2020.^[7]

Oliver landed her debut television role playing the lead character of Frances Flynn in Conversations with Friends, a 2022 miniseries adaptation of Sally Rooney's 2017 debut novel of the same name developed by Element Pictures for BBC Three and Hulu. She received the news that she had been cast in Conversations with Friends the morning after graduating from drama school.^[8] In 2023, she starred in the BBC One drama miniseries Best Interests alongside Sharon Horgan and Michael Sheen.^[9][10] She made her London stage debut in Women, Beware the Devil at the Almeida Theatre in February 2023,^[11] and in April 2023 starred in Dancing at Lughnasa at the National Theatre.^[10] She appeared on Variety's '10 actors to watch' list in 2023.^[12]

In 2023, Oliver made her feature film debut in Saltburn, written and directed by Emerald Fennell, where she played Venetia Catton.^[13][14] The film premiered at the 50th Telluride Film Festival and went on to be nominated for two Golden Globes and five BAFTA Film Awards.^{[citation needed]} In 2024, Oliver played a supporting role in Justin Kurzel's film The Order, which premiered at the 81st Venice International Film Festival.^[12][15] She appeared in the 2025 HBO miniseries Task alongside Mark Ruffalo.^[14] For this role, she won best supporting actress in a drama at the 22nd Irish Film & Television Awards.^[16]

Oliver played Isabella Linton in Emerald Fennell's 2026 film, Wuthering Heights, an adaptation of the novel of the same name.^[14][17]

Oliver is a vegetarian.^[18] In 2022, she was in a relationship with Irish actor Éanna Hardwicke.^[19] As of 2025, she is dating English actor Josh O'Connor.^[20][21] Since 2022, Oliver has mostly resided in London.^[18][21]

In September 2025, Oliver signed an open pledge with Film Workers for Palestine pledging not to work with Israeli film institutions "that are implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people."^[22]