Olivia d’Abo

Despite her still noticeable British accent on talk show appearances, d'Abo has mastered a variety of American accents for her many TV and film roles. She first acted for the cameras when she was 13, in a TV commercial, and two years later was celebrating her 15th birthday on the set of "Conan the Destroyer" (1984), in which she had a solid co-starring role as the virginal princess. D'Abo is best known to TV audiences as Karen Arnold, the hippie older sister on "The Wonder Years" (ABC, 1988-92) who personified the restless youth of the late 1960s, wearing headbands and bell bottoms, and cutting school for "love-ins."

She has since often been cast as free spirits and sexpots, but has managed to move between comedy and drama, including her send-up as a sex kitten nursemaid lusting for Kirk Douglas' bank account in "Greedy" (1994) and the poignant "The Last Good Time" (1995), in which d'Abo played the younger half of a May-December romance with Armin Mueller-Stahl. Her film career became quite active in the mid-90s when d'Abo starred opposite Dana Carvey in "Clean Slate" (1994), Steve Guttenberg in "The Big Green" and Dana Delaney and Kim Cattrall in "Live Nude Girls" (both 1995). After filming an unsuccessful sitcom pilot for ABC, she joined the cast of the NBC sitcom "The Single Guy" (1996-97) as a voice actor who has moved into the title character's apartment building.