Olivia Grace Shewbirt is a local teen making her dreams come true.
A 16-year-old from Pilot Point, Olivia is springboarding her popularity on YouTube, where she boasts 330,000 subscribers, into a career in the acting industry.
“Since ‘Stranger Things’ was so big at the time, I cosplayed 11 and acted out multiple scenes from the show,” Olivia said. “Being able to cosplay and getting so into that character is really helpful when getting into other characters when I’m acting.”
Though she started in 2022, acting wasn’t always her focus.
“It was back in May of 2022—I had my first dance performance for hip-hop and loved it,” Olivia said. “I kind of had that ‘Greatest Showman’ moment where everything went quiet, and I was like, ‘this is who I am, this is what I need to do.’ I had a dream that night of God telling me to do acting and denied it for months.”
“Stranger Things,” is what Olivia said gave her the final push.
“But I got really into ‘Stranger Things,’ and looked up to Millie Bobby Brown a lot and thought, ‘Okay, she does acting, but I still want to do dance.’ But after a little bit, I saw this guy do a duet with my video on YouTube, and it blew up. It has like 8 million views now,” Olivia said. “I started posting more acting videos instead.”
Since kicking off in earnest, Olivia has found an agent, connected with several coaches, including Cathryn Sullivan and Mark Craig, and had several roles in projects from short films to concept pieces.
“The two really big roles I’ve gotten have been in ‘A Still Small Voice’ as Talitha and ... the one I filmed just yesterday called ‘DYEADD,’ Olivia said. “I don’t know how much information I can give out, but I loved my character and the film was very interesting, very dramatic.”
Despite getting work, Olivia explained the most telling signs of success at this point in her young career have stemmed from her YouTube. She lit up telling the story of meeting her “first fan” at a comic con.
“She walks up to me and had this big smile on her face and was freaking out and goes, ‘Oh my gosh, are you 11,’” Olivia said. “I look down at my costume and I’m like, ‘no, I’m Chrissy,’ and she goes, ‘No, are you Olivia, that girl that cosplays her,’ and she started crying and wanted a hug and it kind of creeped in like, ‘Oh, she’s a fan.’” Lori Shewbirt, Olivia’s mom, explained it’s not just fans who have affirmed her talent.
“Within a year and a half, she got her agent,” Lori said. “Even Cathryn said to her, in front of the acting class, ‘I expect you to be a big star. I expect you to be a famous actor in the next two years.’ All moms think their children are great, but to hear someone else in the industry who knows what she’s doing specifically call her out in class and say that, someone else saw it, too.”
Olivia’s parents have both been wholly supportive from the start and even before then.
“I always saw something in her from the time she was little,” Lori said. “I didn’t know what it was going to be, but I knew it would be something. I have posts on Facebook from when she was little saying, ‘you know, if this child doesn’t do something in the entertainment industry, I’m going to be shocked.”
She continued. “I knew there was something there and just wanted to help her,” Lori said. “If that was what she wanted to head towards, I wanted to help her, which is one of the reasons I chose homeschooling for her. I wanted her to be able to pursue whatever she seemed to be interested in and could see her, from a young age, going towards anything artsy.”
The value of having support from her family and closest friend is not lost on the young actress.
“They’ve always been so supportive of my dreams, and I’m very grateful for it,” Olivia said. “I’ve seen so many parents put down on their kids’ dreams, but they’ve always been so supportive.”
As her career continues to grow, Olivia said she plans to move West, though she’s in no hurry to do so.
“I’m realizing I’m not ready for the big roles yet,” Olivia said. “I know I’m a good actor, but I’m not Zendaya or Millie, not as good as them yet, so I don’t mind that it's taking a while because I’m also a kid, and want to be a kid, do all the teenager fun stuff. I want to be a kid and achieve this dream.”
