Olesya Rulin Biography

When Olesya Rulin was twelve years old, her mother urged her to participate in a model search contest, during which she won representation by four talent scout agencies. In 2001, she started to appear in guest roles on made-for-television Disney Channel Original Movies like ‘Hounded’ and ‘The Poof Point’. The following years, she continued to appear on television, doing small roles in a number of TV shows like the CBS supernatural drama series ‘Touched by an Angel’ and The WB drama series ‘Everwood’. She made her big screen debut in 2005, playing a small part in the supernatural horror film ‘Urban Legends: Bloody Mary’, which was followed by a role in the comedy film ‘Mobsters and Mormons’ the same year. She got her big break in 2006, being cast in another Disney Channel Original Movie ‘High School Musical’, right after she completed her graduation from school.

Despite the success of ‘High School Musical’, in 2006, Olesya Rulin took a job at a Nordstrom store, where fans of the film would often recognize the shy composer from the film. She later moved to Paris to study economics, but faced severe financial crisis and even had to "steal" internet connection. However, during this time she got recast for the same role in the sequel High School Musical 2. In this film, she was offered a significantly larger part, which included a solo in "You Are The Music In Me" and a few lines in "Work This Out". So far, Olesya considered acting a part time job, and served as a certified nursing assistant for one year, as well as worked at various stores including Victoria's Secret. As she started to get more substantial roles in movies, she moved to Los Angeles to become a fulltime actress. Her efforts were soon rewarded as she started to appear onscreen more often. While she has been a known face on television, she got a recurring role in the ABC comedy drama series, ‘Greek’ during 2009-10. Since then, she has appeared in many films and TV series, and is currently playing a lead role in the TV series ‘Powers’.

Olesya Yurevna Rulinkova was born on March 17, 1986, in Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union. She was raised in a small 12-house village in Likhoslavl, where there was no indoor plumbing or gas. When she was only 6 years old, her father moved to the United States in search for better future. Two years later, Olesya, along with her mother and her brother, migrated to the US. They initially lived in Texas, and eventually moved to Utah. Despite moving to America during her early childhood, she can read, write and speak fluently in Russian. As a child, she was trained as a ballet dancer, and later learnt to play the piano. She attended West Jordan High School, from where she graduated in 2005. She later spent some time in Paris while pursuing a course in economics.

She reportedly dated actor, Andrew Gray McDonnell, for a couple of months in 2013. Later the same year, she started dating actor and model Nico Tortorella. In November 2021, she married Joseph Pauline. In August 2022, the couple welcomed their first child.