Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen Biography:

A combined billion dollar media kingdom before they were old enough to drive, fraternal twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen showed proof to the value of slick marketing and dedicated business management. The sisters made their joint screen introductions in 1987 as eight-month-old infants on the television series, “Full House” (ABC, 1987-1995). 

Amazingly, their reputation only seemed to grow with the ending of the television series, to the point that by their 18th birthdays, tabloids and media press started invading their private lives to excess. News on everything from Mary Kate’s eating disorder, rumors of drug use, trips to rehabilitation to their millionaire romantic interests kept readers of all ages captivated, but almost to the point of overshadowing their accomplishments as actors and CEOs of their profitable production company, Dualstar Entertainment Group.

Born on June 13, 1986, in Sherman Oaks, CA to parents David and Jarnette Olsen, Ashley was the elder sister of Mary-Kate by three minutes. The charming sisters, soon to be known the world over as “the Olsen twins,” were selected from hundreds of prospective twins to play the role of newborn Michelle Tanner on “Full House”, a fashionable television situation comedy exploring the comedic daily activates of a house full of men raising three young girls in a San Francisco brownstone. As was routine in Hollywood when working with on-screen babies, the producers of “Full House” purposely cast twins in order to get around California’s strict child labor laws. By having the enormously camera-friendly twins take turns filming in front of the camera between tapings, producers were actually able to make best use of baby Michelle’s screen time without violating the law. 

Undeniably, each girl had her own distinctive take on the role, with Mary-Kate acting out the comedy scenes while Ashley was often used for the more solemn ones. Originally hesitant to disclose that Michelle was, in fact, played by twins, producers originally credited the Olsen sisters as "Mary-Kate Ashley Olsen", implying a single actress played the role. Nevertheless, as the show’s recognition exploded in the early 1990’s, producers tailored the credits to show the twins as two separate actors, a tactic that drew in more viewers, all keen to check out these tiny girls who would, literally, grow up in front of America.

Unlike many of their “Full House” equals, the Olsen twins enjoyed an unbelievable amount of success in the 1990’s outside of their television roles. During the eight season run of “Full House,” Mary-Kate and Ashley aggressively diversified into other business projects, developing a unique brand identity. Capitalizing on their enormous kid-friendly charm, the Olsen sisters starred in a chain of made-for television movies including “To Grandmother's House We Go” (ABC, 1992) and “Double, Double, Toil and Trouble” (ABC, 1993). They extended their career with the release of "Brother for Sale" (1992), a children's pop music album. 

Next they formed "Dualstar Entertainment", a production company in association with ABC, to develop and produce projects for the twin sisters. Their empire grew with the release of their second album, "I'm the Cute One", and the home video, "Mary-Kate and Ashley: Our First Video." While mostly overlooked by the industry at first, the success of these and other Olsen-related projects quickly trapped Hollywood’s money hungry attention. By the mid 1990's, it was apparent that Mary-Kate and Ashley were a commercial powerhouse, with both becoming the youngest self made millionaires in American history before they were ten years old.

Following the 1995 cancellation of “Full House,” the nine-year-old Olsen sisters made the most of their reputation by broadly merchandising their images. Tapping into the still unknown market of tween age girls, the Olsen twins took the world by storm by promoting their pretty, clean-living images on such assorted products as clothes, dolls, fragrances, magazines, movies, and posters. The Olsen sisters also starred in a string of incredibly popular videos entitled “The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley” (1995-99) and the “You’re Invited to Mary-Kate & Ashley’s” series (1995-2000). The Olsen twins made their feature film introduction with 1995's "It Takes Two" starring Kirstie Alley and continued to crank out abundant direct-to-video projects, varying from straight storylines to mysteries to music parties.

In 2001, the Olsen twins temporarily returned to television in the fake-reality show, “So Little Time” (ABC Family, 2001-02). Mary-Kate and Ashley played Riley and Chloe Carlson, two Malibu sisters divided by their parents’ divorce. Unanimously laughed at by critics and audiences alike, the series tried to present a semi-reality-based portrayal of the twins’ lives. Criticized for its dull story line, bad scripts, and interfering laugh track, “So Little Time" died a quick death in little time. 

Regardless of this slow down, no one could rebuff this sister act was one of the most well-paid in town. Worth an estimated $150 million each, the Olsen twins were named the "Most Powerful Young Women in Hollywood" by the Hollywood Reporter. Although as children they were labeled as cute, but awkward,  they grew into very beautiful young women, suddenly gaining a male fan base as well. Media and tabloid attention surrounding the Olsen twins had been stirred into a rage on the eve of their 18th birthdays in 2004, especially since they sat on an empire worth an estimated $2 billion dollars.

That same year, the Olsen twins starred in their first movie as legal adults – the comedy, “New York Minute.” Filmed almost exclusively on location in Canada, the film failed to be the breakthrough project the Olsen sisters had hoped for as adults. In addition to being thrown out by the critics, the $40 million “New York Minute” failed to win at the box office, making a disappointing $14 million in domestic ticket sales. 

It was in the course of the promotion of “New York Minute”,  in April of 2004, when the sisters received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, that photographers took photos of a dangerously thin looking Mary-Kate kneeling down with her family to take pictures with her star. The weight loss quickly became the topic of the day, with tabloid magazine and television programs speculating everything from drug use, cocaine, anorexia, stress, and to an dangerous eating disorder. Mary-Kate ended her promotional duties in June, 2004, when her family checked her into a Colorado rehabilitation center for six weeks, citing the official reason as anorexia nervosa. 

The tiny actress put on about five to seven pounds at once after her rehabilitation sessions, all reported on a daily basis by the never ending paparazzi. There was an benefit to the heartbreaking turn of events, because of one twin’s public plunge toward self destruction, drug use and anorexia, they had finally become individual people in the public’s eye. Taking the impact of this forced delineation, Mary-Kate was the shorter, dark-haired earthy-type and regularly cast in the role of the problematic, out-of-control twin; Blonde, gorgeous and shielding Ashley was cast in the done to death role of the more even, “good sister.”

Shortly after the release of “New York Minute”, but before the surprison drug and anorexia rehabilitation visit, the Olsen sisters had announced that they were taking a break from their life long acting careers to attend college like any other young adults. After Mary-Kate's rehabilitation stay, the Olsen twins attended New York University in the fall, where they studied at the Gallatin School for Individualized Study - Ashley choosing to study psychology, and Mary-Kate choosing culinary arts. A year later, Mary-Kate left NYU and returned to California by herself, causing a lot of speculation in the tabloids - had she had an anorexia relapse? Are there more drug problems? Some thought it had been too soon after her disorder to deal with the stresses of moving away from her family to attend college. 

A fed-up Ashley publicly came to her sister’s defense and dismissed all rumors about her sister’s decline as trash. Shortly thereafter, the tabloids Hollywood press got even by putting Ashley Olsen herself in the hot seat. In 2006, The National Enquirer printed unbecoming photos of a drunk Ashley Olsen on its cover, with the headline reading, "Ashley Olsen Caught in Drug Scandal!” Ashley fanatically denied the accusation, saying that she was not, nor was she ever, a drug user. Ashley then filed a libel suit against the tabloid for a massive $40 million.

The Olsen twins both proved able of working as solo acts. In 2006, Mary-Kate was hired and cast in a small role, without her sister, in George Hickenlooper’s star-studded drama “Factory Girl” (2006) starring Sienna Miller, Hayden Christensen and Jimmy Fallon, based on the rise and fall of socialite Edie Sedgwick, concentrating on her relationships with Andy Warhol and a folk singer.

As the very private sisters and sexy celebrities tried to age into women under the watchful and unkind eyes of the media, it became obvious that the interest shown to them as children, and as young teens, and into young adults was not about to slow down. With each new change in hair color or boyfriend, both Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are guaranteed headliner makers, though unfortunately, it was no longer for their movie and film, or business talents, but evermore, for their personal lives and private problems.

• Also Credited As:
  Ashley Fuller Olsen
• Born:
  on 06/13/1986 in Sherman Oaks, California
• Job Titles:
  Actor, Producer, Singer

Family

• Brother: Trent Olsen. born c. 1982
• Father: David Olsen. born c. 1953; divorced from Jarnie Olsen in February 1996; remarried in March 1996
• Mother: Jarnie Olsen. manages twins' career; divorced from David Olsen in February 1986
• Sister: Elizabeth Olsen. born c. 1989
• Sister: Mary-Kate Olsen. twin; shared the part of Michelle on the television series "Full House"; fraternal twin

Significant Others

• Companion: Greg Chait. CEO of Tsubi Jeans; dated for 18 months; split January 2007
• Companion: Matt Kaplan. attends Columbia University; confirmed split May 2004
• Companion: Scott Sartiano. Co-owner of the trendy East Village restaurant Butter; began dating August 2004; split in 2005

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