Elizabeth Olsen took to acting later than her sisters, Mary-Kate and Ashley. Which is to say, she waited until she was all of five years old before making her first credited appearance in How the West Was Fun. Mary-Kate and Ashley, meanwhile, were six months old when they were chosen to play Michelle Tanner on Full House. By the time they were teenagers, they were millionaire moguls. Elizabeth is notoriously reticent to discuss her older sisters in interviews, but she revealed to British Glamour that being related to Mary-Kate and Ashley did have an effect on her growing up.
“I was 10 and I was curious about auditioning… and I realized very quickly it wasn’t for me because I was missing my sports teams, my dance class, and all the extracurricular activities at school. But during that time, I thought ‘I don’t want to be associated with [Mary-Kate and Ashley],’ for some reason,” the WandaVision star said. “I guess I understood what nepotism was like inherently as a 10-year-old. I don’t know if I knew the word, but there is some sort of association of not earning something that I think bothered me at a very young age.” Olsen even considered going by a different name:
“It had to do with my own insecurities, but I was 10. So I don’t know how much I processed, but I did think, ‘I’m going to be Elizabeth Chase [her middle name] when I become an actress.’”
In a twist that 10-year-old “Lizzie” couldn’t have seen coming, she’s now the Olsen most associated with acting. Mary-Kate and Ashley left the industry to focus on their careers in fashion, while Elizabeth was nominated for an Independent Spirit Awards for her performance in Martha Marcy May Marlene; she’s also been part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2014, including playing the co-lead in the critically-acclaimed WandaVision. The three should reunite for How the West Was More Fun.
(Via Glamour)
