We talk about Scream Queens a lot here at House of Geekery; past ones, present ones, and underrated ones as well. 2014 is just about over and while examining this past year’s horror selections there was one clear winner as to who was the reigning Scream Queen of 2014 and that is Miss. Olivia Cooke.
Who is She?
Born in 1993 in Oldham, UK, Olivia studied acting in college and began on stage, eventually landing herself a role in the British miniseries Blackout. Besides acting, Cooke enjoys ballet, gymnastics and has worked with Bulgari to support the “Save the Children” campaign.
Olivia Cooke for the “Save the Children” campaign
Where Have You Seen Her Before?
Before 2014 you may have seen Cooke in one of two British miniseries: Blackout and The Secret of Crickley Hall. The latter was one of her first horror-centric projects about a house haunted by crying children. In 2013 Olivia then went on to land the role of Emma Decody in the first season of The Bates Motel. Emma is young Norman Bates’s sickly best friend. The series is a prequel to the classic Hitchcock film Psycho.
Olivia Cooke in “Bates Motel”
What Did She Do This Year?
Bates Motel’s Season 2 aired in the spring of 2014 is the first of a long list of horror projects that makes Cooke 2014’s biggest Scream Queen. Cooke was the star of big screen horror this year with major roles in 3 releases. The first is April’s Hammer studios film The Quiet Ones about a 1972 parapsychology experiment. Cooke played Jane Harper, a young woman with supernatural abilities.
Olivia Cooke in “The Quiet Ones” (2014)
In the summer of 2014 Cooke showed up in The Signal, a sci-fi thriller which received mixed ratings at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. Cooke plays Hayley, one of three MIT students who track a rival computer hacker to a Nevada desert and find something surprising awaiting them.
Olivia Cookie in “The Signal” (2014)
The third of Cooke’s triple horror feature of the year was the much-anticipated yet disappointing Ouija which was this year’s big horror Halloween release. Despite bad reviews, Hasbro’s first film had box-office success and showed a story of a bunch of young people who mess with a ouija board and (not surprisingly) get messed with back. Cooke led the cast as Laine Morris.
Olivia Cooke in “Ouija” (2014)
What Does Her Future Hold?
Cooke’s biggest upcoming project is Me & Earl & the Dying Girl in which she plays a high school student with leukemia. The film will co-star Thomas Mann and Ronald Cyler II. Cooke also landed the role of Tirzah in the upcoming remake Ben-Hur alongside Morgan Freeman and Toby Kebbell. While it seems Cooke may be focusing on dramas instead of horrors lately we hope she makes her way back to the genre that she owned this year: horror.
Cooke shaved her head for her role in the upcoming “Me & Earl & the Dying Girl”
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