Short Biography

Claim to fame: as Michelle Elizabeth Tanner on Full House (1987-1995)

Mary-Kate Olsen (born June 13, 1986, in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California, the United States) is a Daytime Emmy Award-nominated American actress, producer, executive producer, fashion model and fashion designer. She has had a successful acting career beginning at a very young age, in roles with her twin sister Ashley Olsen.

From 2006 onwards, she has appeared in movie roles independently of her sister.

Career
As a twin
Mary-Kate Olsen began her career in 1987 at the age of nine months when she and her twin sister Ashley were hired for the role of Michelle Tanner on the popular television series Full House. To comply with strict labor laws regarding child actors, they alternated in the role during the taping of the show. They were credited as "Mary Kate Ashley Olsen" in an attempt to deter audiences from realizing that the role was played by two children.

In 1995, following Full House, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen released a string of successful straight-to-video movies and became popular figures in the preteen market during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Their names became a cottage industry, with their likeness seen in clothes, books, fragrances, magazines, movies and posters. There were even fashion dolls made by Mattel from 2000–2005.

They starred in the video series The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley, the ABC show Two of a Kind, and ABC Family`s So Little Time, for which Mary-Kate received a nomination for Outstanding Performer in a Children`s Series at the 2002 Daytime Emmy Awards.

They were ranked number three on the VH1 program 100 Greatest Child Stars.

Mary-Kate appeared alongside her sister in the light-hearted romantic comedy, New York Minute, also starring Eugene Levy. [as of 2004]

Solo career
She appeared frequently in the third season of Weeds, in the role of Tara.

Mary-Kate has been on the set of ABC`s comedy Samantha Who? of which she is set to make a one-episode appearance this fall 2008 on the series` second season. She will play the part of a self-destructive, bad girl.

Not the Olsen Twins
Most currently, Mary-Kate has urged the public and the media to see her separately from Ashley by following a request to be referred to, not as `The Olsen Twins` but as Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen. Subsequently, Mary-Kate`s first solo acting appearance was in the movie Factory Girl, released in December 2006. In addition, she has had a recurring role on Showtime`s "Weeds" as Tara Lindman, a devout Christian who believes it is OK to smoke marijuana, because it grows from the earth. She appears in the 2008 film The Wackness as Union. At the Sundance Film Festival, co-star and Academy Award-winner Sir Ben Kingsley praised her by saying "Mary-Kate`s portrayal of this girl is perfect — she`s hysterical. She`s a pro. It makes sense. She`s been in this business a lot longer than I have."

Fashion designer
Following a high volume of public interest in the sisters` fashion choices, both worked in collaboration on a string of fashion lines available to the public.

Starting as young girls, they have a clothing line in Wal-Mart stores across America for girls ages 4-14 as well as a beauty line called "Mary-Kate and Ashley: Real fashion for real girls". In 2004 they made news by signing a pledge to allow all the workers that sew their line of clothing in Bangladesh ful

Miscellaneous Information

Distinctive Features

Being almost identical to her twin Ashley

Green Eyes

Long light brown hair

Friends and Family

Kirstie Alley [Associate]

Steve Guttenberg [Associate]

Jack Osbourne [Friend]

Andrea Martin [Associate]

Eugene Levy [Associate]

Jared Palalecki [Friend]

Riley Smith [Friend]

Dave Coulier [Friend]

Jodie Sweetin [Friend]

Andrea Barber [Friend]

Candace Cameron Bure [Friend]

Bob Saget [Friend]

Billy Brown [Friend]

John Stamos [Friend]

Mackenzie Olsen [Step Mother]

Trent Olsen [Brother]

Elizabeth Olsen [Sister]

Ashley Olsen [Sister]

Jarnette Jones [Mother]

David Olsen [Father]

Pets

Chocolate Horse

Star Horse

Western Horse

CD Horse

Jack Dog

Lucca Dog

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