For the first four seasons of The Wonder Years, Olivia d'Abo starred as Karen Arnold, Kevin (Fred Savage) and Wayne's (Jason Hervey) free-spirited older sister, whose hippie ways often clashed with their parents' more traditional sensibilities. After leaving the regular cast—Karen moved away to Alaska to start her own family—d'Abo returned for the occasional guest appearance. While her Wonder Years role is still the one most associated with the actor, she has continued performing in the nearly 30 years since the series ended. Now 53 years old, d'Abo is not only an actor but a musician, podcast host, and mother. Keep reading to find out more about her life today.
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She still frequently appears onscreen.
Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty ImagesIn her late teens at the time, d'Abo was already an established actor when The Wonder Years began in 1988. In fact, her very first onscreen role was alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1984's Conan the Destroyer. Some of the English actor's recent roles include parts in the TV series Psych, Elementary, and Jane the Virgin. She's also a voice performer who's played characters in the animated series American Dad, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, The Legend of Tarzan, and Justice League. Plus, she reprised her Clone Wars character Luminara Unduli for a cameo in the movie Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker.
She's a musician.
Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Imagesd'Abo has also spent her time post-Wonder Years working on her music. In 2008, she released her album, Not TV. She's also collaborated with her ex-fiancé—and son of John Lennon—Julian Lennon, as well as with Seal, as reported by Us Weekly. In 2014, she told Hollywood.com of her music, "I’m doing an album. It’s like ’60s folk with techno undercurrents. Sounds bizarre, but it’s popular."
She hosted a podcast.
Rich Fury/Getty ImagesFrom 2015 to 2018, d'Abo co-hosted the podcast Every Friday with Dan and Olivia with Dan Miles. Their website describes the show as "a weekly podcast in which the co-hosts take turns selecting topics to discuss and songs to listen to. To keep things fresh and spontaneous they don’t reveal their choices to each other ahead of time so they experience the same element of surprise their audience does."
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She's a mom of one.
Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic via Getty Imagesd'Abo has one child, Oliver d'Abo, who is now in his 20s. While she and Lennon didn't end up marrying, she was previously married to musician Patrick Leonard from 2002 to 2012.
She understands why the nostalgic show has lived on.
In a 2021 interview with Studio 10, d'Abo shared how she looks back on The Wonder Years today, particularly as a show about the Vietnam War era that was made in the late '80s and early '90s.
"It just said a lot about the different generations in that time and the incredible history that America, I think, has lived yet to this day. It's pretty remarkable," d'Abo said. "You look back on it now, and it’s a little bit like a history lesson for kids who are a lot younger and they didn’t see the show when it first came out, but it’s also a great American classic nostalgic piece."
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