Olivia Cole was an American actress.

She made her screen debut in the daytime soap opera Guiding Light in 1969 and later appeared in over 30 television shows and films.

Cole became the very first African American actress to win an Emmy award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Television Movie, for her performance as 'Mathilda' in Roots. She was also well known for her role as Maggie Rogers in the 1979 miniseries Backstairs at the White House, for which she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie.

Cole starred in the CBS sitcoms Szysznyk from 1977 to 1978 and Report to Murphy in 1982. She appeared in the miniseries North and South, Book I (1985), and was cast in the short-lived ABC drama series Brewster Place with Oprah Winfrey in 1990. She also guest-starred on Police Woman, Family, L.A. Law, and Murder, She Wrote.

Cole died January 19, 2018, in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. She was 75.