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Kaitlin Cooper, Marisa's little sister in The OC: This is what she looks like now
Marisa's troublemaking baby sister is making an acting comeback.
Willa Holland was destined for stardom. In fact, her acting potential was recognised at the tender age of seven. Holidaying in the Hamptons with her mum and stepfather, she was playing in the neighbour's yard when the homeowner, a director by the name of Steven Spielberg, said, "You've got to put her in front of a camera."
Willa's stepdad, acclaimed director and screenwriter Brian De Palma agreed, and on her return to LA, Willa signed with the prestigious Ford Modelling Agency. A year later, Brian took her to a theatrical agent and she started booking commercial work.
Early roles in Ordinary Madness and an episode of The Comeback helped Holland cut her teeth in the acting world. Then, at 14, she landed the role of Kaitlin Cooper, Marisa's little sister in The OC, taking over the role from Shailene Woodley, who looked too young for the part.
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"I think I was right there in that stage of life where Kaitlin was," Willa reflected to Wonderland. "It was very obvious to me why I got cast in that role at that time."
And while it may have been The OC that first made her famous, it was Willa's roles in Gossip Girl and Arrow that cemented her place on American TV. Then, in between seasons and still just a teen, she began to take on film roles: Genoa with Colin Firth, and Middle of Nowhere featuring Susan Sarandon.
"I do get called an old soul a lot," the former child star revealed to Wonderland in 2012. "I think that living in Hollywood my whole life has helped hone that. I've dealt with a lot in my 21 years."
Holland decided to take a step back from acting for a little while: winding down to guest star for the final two seasons of Arrow, before finally taking some time to herself.
But now, Willa's back and set to appear in the Western crime thriller The Dirty South with Dermot Mulroney and Shane West before the year is out.
There's another story Willa still really wants to help tell through her acting though, and that's the tale of how her parents met on a boat in the sunny Caribbean, calling the story crazy romantic.
"When my mom told me [the story of how she met my dad]," Holland relates. "I was like: 'if there’s any story that I was born to tell, I think it was this.'"
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