Los Angeles, June 30 : Hollywood actress-director Olivia Wilde has lauded actor Hugh Laurie calling him the "dreamiest dreamboat". The 42-year-old actress-director starred alongside Hugh in the hit television show â??Houseâ?? between 2006 and 2012.

The actress still has fond memories of working with the British actor, reports â??Female First UKâ??.

Asked by Armchair Expert podcast host Dax Shepherd whether she was smitten with her co-star, Olivia said, "He is so smitten-worthy. No, he's so smart. I loved him on Jeeves and Wooster, and he had done all sorts of interesting comedy in the English comedy theatre world that I was obsessed with. Meeting him, I mean, the dreamiest dreamboat. And so gracious, and had all these kids around him, really, that he was so sweet and encouraging (toward)â??.

Olivia and Hugh spent "a lot of time together" on set, and the actress relished the experience. She recalled, "We did, like, 19-hour days. I think the show went eight years. I did, I think, four yearsâ??.

As per â??Female First UKâ??, Olivia's House bosses ultimately allowed her to juggle the TV show with her film career, and she remains grateful for being afforded so much freedom.

The actress, who played Remy 'Thirteen' Hadley on the TV medical drama, said, "I started doing movies in the off-season. I had a deal with them where I would get paid less, but it meant I could go do movies. It was really nice of them to let me do that. But I knew I couldn't stay. And it was because the hours were, I mean, poor Hughâ??.

Meanwhile, Olivia previously admitted that she finds directing to be a liberating experience. The actress made her directorial debut with the teen comedy film Booksmart in 2019, and Olivia explained that she relished the experience.

She told The Talks, "Directing has been liberating in a way that is very profound because as an actor, you are very dependent. Youâ??re dependent on people choosing you and people projecting a certain kind of definition onto you of a character of what you are. I think itâ??s quite an enormous responsibility to hold all of those projectionsâ??.

â??With being director, thereâ??s a sense of agency. I think the first time that I called action on my own set of my first film, I felt a thrill of independence for the first time. My value on a set was entirely based on my ideas and if I had an instinct to change a scene, I could do thatâ??, she added.

/IANS