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Briefly Academy Award-winning Japanese-born American film actress. She played Melanie Wilkes in "Gone with the Wind" (1939) and received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Olivia was moved with her family to Los Angeles from Japan when her parents separated. She got her taste for acting in high school, and was in the perfect place for it. Olivia participated in the school play, "A Midsummer Nights Dream" and was spotted by an agent. She would be cast in the Warner Brothers film version of that play in 1935. She impressed her handlers and she was signed to a seven-year contract. She would later play in the megalithic �Gone With The Wind�. In 1941 she would be nominated for an Oscar and lose to her sister Joan Fontaine (Joan had changed her last name to �give Olivia a fighting chance�).
During the 1940s things got stormy; Olivia would end up suing Warner Brothers over her suspension. In a landmark decision, the courts said that not only did Olivia not have to make up the time of her suspension, but also all performers were to be limited to a seven-year contract, which would include any suspensions handed down. As the 1950s came and went Olivia took a three year leave, and then returned to the theatres in 1952. After this point she is eclipsed by her sister and fades from the spotlight. Her last film appearance was in 1978 in �The Fifith Musketeer�; Olivia did make the jump to TV though the 1980s, but it was obvious what had been was gone. Today she enjoys a quiet retirement in Paris.
