Olivia Rose Williams Brings Bold Energy to Vertical Dramas

For Olivia Rose Williams, some of the most important moments in acting started long before vertical dramas entered the picture. They started in rehearsal rooms where she felt accepted, emotionally understood, and free to be expressive in ways that did not always feel possible elsewhere.

Now, after projects like “Con Crush,” “Cheer Up Baby,” “Love Under Fire,” “Falling for a Superstar,” “TikTok,” “Secret Stars,” and “Fight Dirty,” Williams has become one of the younger actresses helping shape a more energetic and emotionally open side of the vertical drama world.

Olivia Rose Williams | Source: instagram/oliviarrosewilliams

Acting Became a Different World

Williams said acting first entered her life after her mother realized sports were clearly not the right fit.

“When I was little, my mom tried to put me in sports, but I refused,” she said during a 2025 interview on the VertiVerse podcast. “I tried soccer, track. I hated it.”

Dance classes came next, followed by a traveling theater company that visited her hometown each year. She participated in productions including “Cinderella,” “Pinocchio,” and “Rabbit in the Hat,” eventually continuing theater throughout middle school and high school.

But it was during high school productions that acting became something more personal for her.

While performing as Adelaide in “Guys and Dolls,” Williams realized theater gave her a sense of emotional belonging she had struggled to find elsewhere.

“I was low-key getting bullied in high school and then I would go to rehearsal and it would be like a different world,” she explained. “My big emotions were welcomed and not made fun of.”

That emotional connection to performance eventually pushed her toward drama school and professional acting opportunities.

Falling Into Vertical Dramas Through “Con Crush”

Williams did not originally plan on entering vertical dramas specifically.

She explained that while attending drama school, she began submitting herself for projects on Backstage and Actors Access after seeing friends audition for film work.

One listing immediately stood out to her: “Con Crush.”

“The character was Charlotte,” Williams recalled. “The description was like beautiful, villainous, sexy, but like ruins everything.”

Behind the scenes of "Con Crush: My Duty to You is Eternal" | Source: instagram/oliviarrosewilliams

She submitted an audition tape and quickly booked the role despite having almost no professional film credits at the time.

“I had literally no film credits, only theater,” she said.

Williams later credited director Andrew Aquad and the production team for taking a chance on her early in her career. The project also introduced her to a growing community of young actors working inside the vertical drama space.

Wanting More Confident Female Leads

Part of what separates Williams from some other younger vertical drama actresses is the way she openly talks about wanting the genre itself to evolve.

During the VertiVerse interview, she reflected on the popularity of billionaire romances and emotionally distant male leads commonly found in many vertical dramas.

“I feel like it’s always very powerful rich men and then they pick the poor person,” she said while discussing common relationship tropes in the genre.

For Williams, one reason she connected strongly with “Love Under Fire” was because the lead female character felt very different from the softer or more passive heroines she often saw elsewhere.

Olivia Rose Williams and costar behind the scenes of "Love Under Fire" | Source: instagram/oliviarrosewilliams

“She’s not meek at all,” Williams said. “She’s a baddie. She’s confident.”

She also praised the project for centering a female lead who pushes back rather than simply reacting to the men around her.

“I feel like that’s something we need,” she said. “I feel like it’s very male-centered and I’m not really about that.”

The role additionally allowed Williams to perform live singing, motorcycle scenes, and large stunt-heavy sequences that gave the production a different feel from more traditional romance-centered verticals.

Learning the Pace of Vertical Productions

Like many actors entering the format for the first time, Williams admitted the speed of vertical productions initially surprised her.

“When I first did them, I was so new to film in general that I was like, ‘Oh, this is just how it is,’” she said while describing the fast pace and limited number of takes common on set.

Over time, though, she began viewing the format almost like performance training.

Williams explained that after doing several projects, she reached a point where she could glance at scenes briefly and memorize them almost immediately before filming.

“I feel like you don’t get training like that,” she said.

At the same time, she has also spoken warmly about the friendships and ensemble atmosphere created during many productions, especially while filming “Cheer Up Baby.”

That sense of collaboration appears to be one of the reasons the project remained especially meaningful to her even after it gained a larger online audience.

Looking Beyond Acting Alone

Even while her vertical drama résumé continues growing, Williams has also spoken about wanting to eventually create projects of her own.

“My goal has always been to just be able to provide for me and eventually my family with what I love to do,” she said.

She also revealed during the interview that she writes songs and hopes to eventually produce short films and original creative projects outside acting.

Outside work, Williams frequently shares behind-the-scenes moments, friendships with fellow actors, and updates from productions through social media.

As vertical dramas continue evolving, Williams appears interested not only in starring in those stories, but also in helping push the genre toward more emotionally expressive characters and female leads with sharper personalities than audiences may traditionally expect.