Fans Blown Away By Photos Of The Olsen Twins’ Actress Sister Elizabeth Olsen

Mar 18, 2021

There probably hasn't been a more famous pair of twins than Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, who first rose to fame at the tender age of nine months, after appearing in the hit sitcom "Full House." After spending much of their childhood and teenage years starring in movies and shows, they left the limelight for a while before reappearing as bonafide fashion designers. No longer acting, the twins are instead fixtures in the fashion world with their incredibly successful labels The Row and Elizabeth and James. 

Although they were probably the most famous child actors of the '80s and '90s, Mary-Kate and Ashley have a sibling who might not be as famous as them but has worked just as hard in the acting world. That sibling is their younger sister Elizabeth Olsen, who is three years younger than the twins. Mary-Kate and Ashley had a huge head start as they began acting at less than one-year-old, while Elizabeth eschewed acting as a child and instead got her start as a young adult. But that doesn't mean she's lacking in talent — in fact, Elizabeth has built a very respectable career for herself after getting started in the theater. She's even won various awards and really proven herself as a talented actress in the last 10 years.

The notoriously reserved Olsen twins might keep out of the spotlight these days, which means we don't get to see much interaction between the three sisters, but that doesn't mean they aren't close. Let's take a look at their famous family.

Hailing from Sherman Oaks, California, Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen were born in 1986, and as their surname might suggest, have Norwegian and Danish roots. Ashley is the older twin of the pair, being born just two minutes before Mary-Kate. What some people might not know is that the girls aren't actually identical twins but fraternal, meaning that they only share some of the same genes and actually could have turned out looking much more different.

After auditioning for "Full House" when they were just six months old, the girls were cast in the role of Michelle Tanner. The show aired from 1987 to 1995 and was a huge success — audiences fell in love with them and the world got to see them literally grow up in front of their eyes. Although now it's well known, at the time the producers wanted to keep it secret that Michelle was played by twins, so they were credited simply as "Mary Kate Ashley Olsen." The reason it helped that twins played the one character was to comply with child labor laws.

But while the girls brought happiness to viewers, years later, Mary-Kate would tell "Marie Claire" magazine that it wasn't all positive from their end. She described them as "little monkey performers" in reference to their youth spent in front of the cameras. She added:

"I look at old photos of me, and I don't feel connected to them at all… I would never wish my upbringing on anyone…"

It's sad knowing that the twins weren't truly happy with their childhood in the spotlight, but at least they've been able to make choices to lead more private lives as they've gotten older.

In 1995, when "Full House" stopped airing, their parents divorced, which also made an impact on the young girls. Instead of slowing down with the end of the show, their work schedule ramped up, as they founded and became CEOs of their own company Dualstar, which they are still in charge of today. This period saw them shoot nearly 30 movies, record albums, and music videos, and release a book series. By the age of 10, they became the youngest self-made millionaires in American history, according to "The Telegraph." Less than a decade after "Full House" ended, the girls would shoot their last movie together in 2004, titled "New York Minute." It was a critical flop and soon after the girls said goodbye to Hollywood.

But one door closing led to another opening — known for their incredible sense of style since a young age, the girls moved their focus to fashion, and created two fashion labels called The Row and Elizabeth and James, the latter of which was named after their two siblings. Speaking with British "Vogue" in 2019, Mary-Kate said, as reported by "Elle":

"We've been there, we've done that, we started out that way. But this is the way we chose to move forward in our lives: to not be in the spotlight, to really have something that speaks for itself."

These days the twins rarely attend public events, but considering they spent their entire childhood in front of the camera, it's no surprise they'd want some privacy now, and they definitely deserve it. 

After leaving acting to pursue their careers in fashion, in 2011 Mary-Kate and Ashley spoke to "Vogue" about the change in direction. Speaking about the career switch, Ashley explained:

“I am so proud of what we did. We made kids smile every day. But we had done the most we could do.” 

When asked if it was frightening to stop, considering they had been acting since before they were 1 year old, Mary-Kate admitted, "There was a fear, but also, an exhale." Another major change around this time that helped Mary-Kate and Ashley achieve more privacy was moving from Los Angeles to New York. Ashley told "Vogue" in the same interview:

“The press here in New York respect you more. It was the worst in Los Angeles when we got our license. They would follow us. They knew where we lived. And you don’t know who these people are. People just out of jail.”

In the same interview, Mary-Kate admitted that the situation had made them "paranoid." It's no wonder the Olsen twins wanted to get out of the entertainment industry and L.A. if it was affecting their personal lives and wellbeing so much. At least they got out when they did, instead of soldiering through and potentially ending up in bad situations — something that isn't uncommon for child actors. 

And while acting didn't prove to be the twins' lifelong passion, one of their siblings took over the reins in the family — their younger sister Elizabeth Olsen. Let's take a look at her journey to where she is today.

Born on February 16, 1989, just three years after Mary-Kate and Ashley, Elizabeth arrived into the Olsen family while her older sisters were already famous for being on "Full House." Although she did appear in small parts in her sisters' films and shows, including "How the West Was Fun" and "The Adventures of Mary-Kate and Ashley," she didn't go down the same path her older sisters did for a reason.

Speaking with "Parade" Elizabeth explained that she loved Frank Sinatra musicals and always knew she wanted to act, but that her parents were direct with her about what acting from a young age would mean. She told the magazine:

"What happened was my parents said, “OK, well if that’s what you really want to do, then you have to know that you are going to risk not being a part of the sports team, you’re going to have to risk not being a part of ballet after school.” And so, I did that for three months of my childhood, but it wasn’t worth it to me to work for a living."

She goes on to say that what she "saw [her] sisters do was work, not play." After her father asked her to write a pro and cons list about whether she would continue acting as a child while she was in the fourth grade, Elizabeth came to the decision that "it was more important for [her] to be able to do extracurriculars." It's a very mature approach and perhaps the Olsen parents even learned a thing or two after the unprecedented success of Mary-Kate and Ashely's childhood acting careers.

After having a regular childhood, Elizabeth then struggled with the decision of pursuing acting once again. Explaining to "Parade" that since she's from L.A., it's kind of expected to want to become an actor, she felt it was "embarrassing," especially since she was a very academic student, so she figured she'd do something like becoming an accountant, as she was good at math. 

But after performing in a school play at the age of 16, she had a great experience with her drama teacher who specialized in theater history and Russian and American theater techniques. She explained in the same interview:

"My way in to being OK with the want of being an actor was through the theater, because it felt more academic and it felt less like the experience of celebrity and whatever it is."

Understanding the academic side of the theater and acting allowed Elizabeth to be ok with wanting to pursue acting once more, so she enrolled at New York University's revered Tisch School of the Arts. While studying there, she even spent one semester abroad in Russia, studying at the Moscow Art Theatre school. Once she was back in the States and still in college, she started working professionally in movies, telling "Parade":

"There wasn’t a lot of thought that went into it; it just had its own journey."

These first few films were mostly independent productions, but one of them named "Martha Marcy May Marlene" — about a young woman suffering flashbacks after escaping a cult — really put her name on the map. 

The success of "Martha Marcy May Marlene" took Olsen to the prestigious Sundance Film Festival and Cannes Film Festival, and earned her a ton of award nominations and some wins for breakout talent. Speaking to "Philadelphia Style," she gave credit to the film's director for helping put her on the map:

“I’m so lucky [director] Sean Durkin wanted to go with someone who had literally no film experience. I think the reason Sean liked the idea was because I didn’t know what I looked like on camera, and I didn’t care about what angle of my face looked good. It added to the awkwardness of Martha.”

She said in the same interview that while filming the movie she was experiencing a restless time in her personal life and that made her fall even more in love with acting:

“My favorite thing about working and being on set as an actor is having to be so present in what you’re doing. It’s such a relief — it’s almost meditative. The only thing that matters is the moment.”

Since establishing herself in Hollywood, Elizabeth has balanced small indie projects with big blockbusters, appearing in "Kill Your Darlings," "Oldboy," "Ingrid Goes West," and a recurring role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Wanda Maximoff, including on the 2021 television series "WandaVision." 

Elizabeth has spent the last decade proving her acting chops and now she's reaping the glory by being able to be selective about the roles she chooses. Considering her age and how much success she has already achieved, there's no knowing what else she might get up to.

With Mary-Kate and Ashley spending the first 20 years of their life under Hollywood's gaze and Elizabeth firmly establishing herself in the following 10 years, cumulatively the Olsen family has a lot of experience being in the limelight. As it turns out, the famous twins even gave their younger sister some good advice. Elizabeth told "Philadelphia Style":

“They’re very tight-lipped — notoriously so — and I was not caring what I was saying [in interviews] because I’d assumed no one would read it. That’s when we’d have conversations. They’d say, ‘You know, even if you don’t think anyone’s going to read this article, someone might pull the quote later for [something else].’ It’s all part of how you hope someone interprets you, and how they frame who you are and the work you do.” 

Elizabeth even had an Instagram account for a while, but it was something she admitted to struggling with and eventually she deleted it. And although she's kept herself open through interviews, she has also taken on a few of the tips Mary-Kate and Ashley have given her. In another interview with "Harper's Bazaar," she said:

“There are ways you can be private — my sisters are intimately private and I respect that. They showed me that you can be private, but also accessible to journalists, for those reasons. It’s helpful and I learnt my value system from them."

Knowing that Elizabeth has been able to follow her acting dreams but also maintain some semblance of privacy for herself and her notoriously private older sisters shows progress for the Olsen family. Now that Elizabeth's work speaks for itself, we're sure the world will be seeing a lot more of Mary-Kate and Ashley's previously unknown younger sister.

Did you know Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen had a younger sister named Elizabeth who's slowly becoming just as well known as them? Pass this story on to anyone you know who's a fan of the Olsen family!