It’s been six years since Olivia Olson performed the second most-famous rendition of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” as Joanna, “the one” for Sam (Thomas Sangster), in 2003′s Love Actually. Since we find ourselves wondering where she is every time we watch the movie — which is frequently this time of year — we decided to find out. Now 17, and a senior in high school, Olson voices Vanessa Doofenshmirtz, the evil scientist’s daughter, on the Disney show Phineas and Ferb. In a nice twist of fate, Ferb is voiced by Sangster and has a crush on Vanessa. “He records over in England, so I haven’t seen him since the premiere of Love Actually,” she says. ”I talk to him on the phone, though. We had to talk about the whole Ferb-Vanessa situation ’cause it’s pretty funny.”
Upon graduation, Olson plans to finally focus on the music career she was offered after the film. “Record companies were trying to sign me, but honestly, I just really wasn’t interested in it then. I’ve known since I was two years old that I wanted to be a singer, but I was 10 years old — what really would I be singing about? I was already writing songs, but they were like the songs that I heard on the radio, which were too old for my age. It wouldn’t have worked out. I just wanted to get some sort of life experience. Now, I’ve done high school. I’ve been normal. And I’m over it,” she says, laughing. “Now, I’m trying to kick it into high gear and work on my music.” After the jump, she talks about filming Love Actually, the kind of music she wants to make (her YouTube channel), and whether she’s Team Edward or Team Jacob. (She’s voicing vampire queen Marceline in Cartoon Network’s upcoming series Adventure Time with Finn & Jake; we had to ask.) READ FULL STORY »
From the good (hooray for Modern Family!) to the bad (Jon and Kate’s reality TV-fueled flameout) to the Gaga, Hollywood offered no shortage of entertainment worth talking about in 2009 — so much, in fact, that we could only fit about half of the year’s noteworthy stars and characters on our cover. And after weeks of debates, throwdowns, and an admirable lack of name-calling, EW’s writers and editors have put together a complete guide to the year in entertainment. Inside you’ll find:
