Olivia's starring role in TV drama

STAR role for Olivia in the new ITV period drama Vanity Fair

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OLDHAM-BORN actress Olivia Cooke has landed a lead role in a new ITV period drama.

The 23-year-old actress will star as heroine Becky Sharp in the TV adaptation of the William Thackeray classic Vanity Fair.

Olivia, from Royton, began acting at Oldham Theatre Workshop when she was eight years old and landed roles in West Side Story and Cinderella during her teenage years.

The up-and-coming star was featured doing the splits in One Direction's music video for their 2012 hit Autumn Term.

She attended Royton and Crompton Secondary School and went on to study drama at Oldham Sixth Form College.

In 2011 she played the lead role of Maria in West Side Story at college and was described by her then course leader for dance Sharon Bell as "talented" and "fully committed."

Olivia left college before the end of her A-levels to play Christopher Ecclestone's daughter in the BBC thriller "Blackout."

Other film roles include playing a character named Emma Decody in the thriller series "Bates Motel" for US TV and a lead role in Steven Spielberg's forthcoming sci-fi film Ready Player One.

Her new seven-part period drama is set during the Napoleonic Wars and follows the strong-willed Becky Sharp who is determined to claw her way out of poverty and make her way in society.

Becky uses her powers of manipulation to fight her way to the court of King George IV, losing friends and sweethearts along the way.

The adaptation of the 19th Century classic, created by ITV and Amazon, has been undertaken by director and screenwriter Gwyneth Hughes, who already has The Girl and Dark Angel to her name.

ITV's head of drama Polly Hill commissioned the series from production company Mammoth Screen.

Filming will begin on location in London and Budapest from September although an air date is yet to be announced.

* Olivia will be appearing in The Limehouse Golem in September.