After a day playing at Steven Spielberg's home, the seed was planted that Willa Holland should spend her life in front of the camera. Spielberg told her mother "You've got to put her in front of a camera!" In 1999, De Palma took Holland to a theatrical talent agency. Since then she has shot many national commercials. During 2001 when willa was 10, she worked alongside her real father in " Ordinary Madness " who was the cinematographer. She was even slated to co-star in the 2005 FOX series The Inside with fellow model Rachel Nichols, but left the show when writer Tim Minear was brought in to overhaul it. Currently, she has taken over the role of Kaitlin Cooper on The O.C. during the series' third season. She is scheduled to become a series regular next year, for the show's upcoming fourth season. Holland was a fan of The O.C. before landing the role of Kaitlin Cooper.
Kaitlin Cooper is the daughter of Jimmy Cooper and
Julie Cooper-Nichol and sister to Marissa Cooper. After returning from boarding school, she plans to stay in Newport permanently. Her personality is more of her mother's rather than her father's, quite the opposite of her older sister Marissa.