1 week Ago By Anita Markoff
Oliver Jackson-Cohen made a name for himself as a leading man in Hollywood after landing central roles in The Haunting of Hill House , The Haunting of Bly Manor, and The Invisible Man. Now the British actor is set to introduce himself to a new audience as one of the stars in the BBC 's latest Agatha Christie adaptation, Towards Zero. What fans may not realise is the actor was raised around A-listers, rubbing shoulders with figures like Kate Moss and Jennifer Saunders as a child, because his mum is also famous.
Oliver was born in London in 1986 to David Cohen and renowned fashion designer Betty Jackson. Betty became a household name in British fashion after she designed costumes for the cast of Absolutely Fabulous . She has received both an MBE (Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) and a CBE for her contribution to the industry over the years.
Although Oliver could have easily become interested in the world of fashion after being surrounded by his mother's designs and the glamour of the industry from a young age, he set his sights on acting instead. Betty once revealed that he loved "dressing up and doing shows" as a child. However, he suffered a setback when he was kicked out of his school's drama group.
But Oliver was determined to pursue his passion and joined the Youngblood Theatre Company instead, learning acting techniques over the weekend. By the age of 15, he landed his first TV role playing a waiter on Hollyoaks . He then had a temporary stint at the prestigious Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York before leaving to LA to pursue more acting opportunities.
Since then he has worked alongside Hollywood stars such as Dwayne Johnson, Drew Barrymore, and Elisabeth Moss. His role as an abusive partner in The Invisible Man helped him achieve international recognition, and he went on to play characters in several Netflix horror shows after that. In 2017 he bravely revealed that he had been a victim of sexual abuse as a child.
He told fans: "#MeToo As a child. Repeatedly. And have spent most of my life living with PTSD, pretending it didn't happen, and now, trying to rebuild what was shattered.
The thing about sexual abuse is that the moment it is done, however brief or however long, it changes the course of your life permanently. "You are changed, not through choice. I stand with all the brave.
" The actor later shared that playing Luke in The Haunting of Hill House was a form of therapy for him, telling Flaunt : "Out of all the characters I have ever played in the past 10 years, there’s the most of me in Luke. Like, all of that stuff of just trying to function, and the vulnerability, and just trying to be normal, and being so ashamed - all of that is my own s**t, and so I didn’t need to be a heroin addict to understand the pain that he was going through, so, so much. I think it’s incredible getting to play someone like that.
" Meanwhile Betty Jackson is still a respected figure in the fashion industry. In the 2000s she worked on clothing labels for Marks and Spencers and Debenhams, before going on to promote ethical fashion as a part of the British Fashion Council’s Model Health Inquiry panel. Most recently, in 2015, she was appointed Master of Faculty for the Royal Designers for Industry at the Royal Society of Arts.
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