What To Know
- Elizabeth Olsen described her childhood as “chaotic” due to growing up in the shadow of her famous sisters, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.
- Despite her sisters’ fame, Elizabeth pursued her own acting career, studying at NYU and earning critical acclaim for her film debut.
- The Marvel star did not receive career advice from her sisters but credits her mother for inspiring her love of performance.
Marvel actress Elizabeth Olsen recently dished on what it was like growing up in the shadow of her childhood star sisters, Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen.
In a recent interview with The Times, the WandaVision star described her childhood as “chaotic,” recalling that her older sisters were “forced to watch all my plays” and “go to my dance performances.”
Mary-Kate and Ashley were thrust into the limelight as infants, sharing the role of Michelle Tanner on the hit sitcom Full House from 1987 to 1995. They would go on to star in several TV movies and feature films throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, including the short-lived ABC sitcom Two of a Kind.
Despite a series of hit films, including It Takes Two (1995), Passport to Paris (1999), and Winning London (2001), before they even reached 16, the twin sisters decided to step away from acting and embark on a career in fashion, launching the luxury brand The Row in 2006. Their last acting role came in the 2004 comedy film New York Minute.
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Meanwhile, Elizabeth forged her own path as an actor, studying at New York University and performing in various theater productions before making her on-screen film debut in 2011’s Martha Marcy May Marlene, a performance which earned rave reviews.
As for whether her older sisters ever gave her any advice, Elizabeth told The Times, “‘No. We’re just a supportive family. It feels irrelevant to talk about it after 15 years of working.”
Elizabeth is the youngest of her three siblings — Trent, Mary-Kate, and Ashley — born to exes, Jarnette and David Olsen. David went on to have two more children, Courtney and Jake, with his second wife, McKenzie Olsen.
While the Love & Death actress didn’t receive advice from her older sisters, she did credit her mom, Jarnette, for inspiring her from a young age.
“She showed me every single classic — Guys and Dolls, Carousel, Oklahoma!” Elizabeth shared. “I loved them, and I took every single performance class I could because I was so in love with musicals.”
Does that mean we could see Elizabeth in a musical someday? Don’t count on it. “No, I’m a terrible singer,” she told the outlet. “And as I’ve got older, I’ve become a perfectionist.”