Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Fuller Olsen started early in their acting careers when they were part of the hit TV sitcom Full House playing the twin daughters of Danny Ernest Tanner (played by Bob Saget). The show first aired on September 1987 and the twins were hired to be part of the cast at the age of six months and began filming when they were just nine months old. The show was a popular hit from the late 80’s towards the early 90’s. The sisters played the same role as Michelle Tanner as they took turns in taping for their scenes in order to comply with the strict rules regarding child labor laws for child actors. Mary-Kate had more screen time during its first season since Ashley would be crying when she was brought to the set and do her scenes. Since the producers wouldn’t want to let the viewers know that the character of Michelle Tanner was being portrayed by twins, the sisters were originally credited as “Mary Kate Ashley Olsen” but during its last season on air and most of season one, they were credited as two different individuals. In addition to their stint with Full House, the twins also did several straight-to-video movies like To Grandmother’s House We Go back in 1992.
When Full House ended airing on television, the Olsen twins began merchandising their image and it was in 1993 that they put up a company named Dualstar and their brand has been sold and distributed in more than 3,000 stores in the United States and in over 5,000 stores worldwide. Because of their newfound business venture, the twins were included in Forbes magazine “The Celebrity 100 List” since 2002 and it was in 2007 that Forbes ranked them as the eleventh richest women in the entertainment industry with a net worth of over $100 million. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen were the biggest craze in the preteen market in the late 90’s towards early 2000 and their names were so synonymous to fashion, books, fragrances, magazine and a lot more that every product released in the market was a huge hit. Even toymaker company Mattel came up with their Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen fashion dolls that was sold in the market from 2000 to 2005.
The twins starred in their own video series The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley and You’re Invited to Mary-Kate and Ashley’s… They even had a show for ABC called Two of a Kind and ABC Family’s So Little Time. The latter show was heavily panned by critics and it disappointed a majority of the fans. But despite the setback, the twins were ranked number three on the VH1 program 100 Greatest Child Stars. Mary-Kate and Ashley appeared in their most recent theatrical endeavour in the light-hearted romantic comedy New York Minute which also starred Eugene Levy. The movie was some sort of a launch pad for the girls to get into more serious and mature roles but the film was an absolute box office disappointment.
Mary-Kate made her first solo endeavour without her twin sister Ashley when she appeared in the movie Factory Girl which was released in December of 2006, Mary-Kate was originally seen in several of the movie scenes but she only got to appear in the background in the film’s final cut. She also did recurring guestings for the third season of the Showtime series Weeds. In 2008 she starred in an independent film with actor Ben Kingsley entitled The Wackness with whom Mary-Kate shares a passionate kissing scene with Kingsley. Her sister Ashley is now doing a movie alone where she gets to star opposite Billy Bob Thornton in The Informers due to be released sometime in 2008.
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