Mary-Kate Olsen Biography

Mary-Kate Olsen was born on June 13, 1986, in Sherman Oaks, California, to Jarnette "Jarnie" Olsen and David "Dave" Olsen. While her mother was a personal manager, her father worked as a real estate developer and mortgage banker. She has a twin sister, Ashley, an older brother, Trent, and a younger sister named Elizabeth Olsen.

Her parents got divorced in 1996 and her father remarried; she has two half-siblings from her father’s second marriage.

She studied at Campbell Hall School in Los Angeles and later attended New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study with her sister Ashley.

When she was nine months old, Mary-Kate Olsen’s career as an actor started. Together with her twin sister, she shared the role of Michelle Tanner on the ABC sitcom Full House. The twin sisters portrayed the role from 1987 to 1995.

In the early-1990s, along with her twin sister, she started a limited liability company called Dualstar which produced a long string of TV movies and direct-to-video releases featuring the girls. The company was basically created to produce Mary-Kate and Ashley-branded products.

While acting in television movies and direct-to-video films, the Olsen sisters made their big screen debut in 1995 in the feature film It Takes Two. Two years later, they returned to television as guests in an episode of the famous sitcom Sister, Sister, opposite rival twin actors Tia and Tamera Mowry.

Following their stint in Full House, the Olsen sisters starred in two other sitcoms, namely Two of a Kind and So Little Time. Both the shows ran for one season. They even voiced the lead characters in the animated series Mary-Kate and Ashley in Action!

In 2004, the Olsen twins took direct control of Dualstar, becoming joint-CEOs and presidents of the company. At the time, the company sold its merchandise in over 3,000 stores in America and 5,300 stores worldwide.

In 2006, Mary-Kate Olsen made her first solo appearance as Molly Spence in a movie titled Factory Girl. Following Factory Girl, Olsen was next seen in the 2008 film The Wackness. The same year, she also made a guest appearance on the ABC comedy Samantha Who?

In 2011, Olsen made her final acting appearance in the motion picture adaptation of Alex Flinn’s novel Beastly. Before appearing in the movie, the sisters had indicated that their interest lies in fashion. The twins realized that their real calling lay in fashion and hence officially retired from acting.

Not many know that while pursuing a career in acting, the Olsen twins had simultaneously worked on their fashion career. In fact, early in their career, they had started a clothing line in Walmart stores across America for girls aged 4 to 14 as well as a beauty line called Mary-Kate and Ashley: Real Fashion for Real Girls.

The twin sisters went on to head a designer fashion label called The Row as well as retail collections, namely Elizabeth and James, Olsenboye, and StyleMint, all of which they co-founded. They are also the creative directors of Superga. In spring 2013, Mary-Kate and Ashley released a perfume brand called Elizabeth and James.

Acting and fashion apart, the Olsen twins have extended their artistic interest to writing as well. Together, they have co-authored a book titled Influence, featuring interviews with fashion designers who have inspired the twins’ fashion house.

In the field of acting, Mary-Kate Olsen’s most illustrious work came in the popular ABC sitcom Full House wherein she and her twin shared the role of Michelle Tanner. They starred in the series from 1987 to 1995, and even won several awards for their portrayal of Michelle Tanner.

As fashion designers, the twin sisters’ most successful achievement came when they co-founded their luxury brands, The Row and Elizabeth and James. The duo also came up with more affordable lines of fashion under the brands, Olsenboye and StyleMint.

The Olsen twins’ acting in Full House won them numerous awards, including the Young Artists Award under the Best Young Actress Under Five Years of Age category in 1989. They also won the award under the categories: Outstanding Performance by an Actress Under Nine Years of Age in 1990 and Exceptional Performance by an Actress Under Ten Years of Age in 1992.

In 1994, they won the Best Youth Actress award at Youth Artists Awards for Double, Double, Toil and Trouble.

In 1996 and 1999, the twins won Kids’ Choice Award for Favourite Movie Actress and Favourite TV Actress respectively for It Takes Two.

In 2012, the sisters won the CFDA Fashion Award and WSJ magazine’s Innovator of The Year Award. The duo won the CFDA Fashion Award in 2015, 2018, and 2019.

Mary-Kate Olsen dated several renowned celebrities, such as David Katzenberg, photographer Maxwell Snow, and artist Nate Lowman. In 2012, she started dating Olivier Sarkozy, half-brother of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Olivier and Olsen got engaged in 2014.

Olsen and Olivier Sarkozy tied the nuptial knot on November 27, 2015, at a private residence in New York City. In April 2020, Mary-Kate Olsen filed for divorce, which was finalized on January 25, 2021.

She is an established horse rider and had participated in the 2016 American Gold Cup at upstate New York.      

In mid-2004, Olsen announced that she is undergoing treatment for anorexia nervosa. In November 2007, she was hospitalized after suffering a kidney infection.

The Olsen twins have constantly supported charitable organizations and NGOs. In 2004, they were in the news for signing a pledge to grant the women workers in Bangladesh full maternity leave. These workers were working for their fashion line. The National Labor Committee praised the twins for their commitment to workers’ rights.

In 2011, Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley designed an Olsenboye Change Purse and donated the money to Pennies From Heaven. The same year, they also teamed up with TOMS Shoes to design footwear for kids without shoes in more than 20 countries.