Elizabeth Olsen’s path to a film career was not easy, because she grew up in the shadow of her sisters – the most famous twins on the planet. Now no one doubts Elizabeth’s independence, moreover, her acting talent has received much more critical acclaim than the work of Mary-Kate and Ashley. Her roles in the films Martha, Marcy May, Marlene, Kill Your Loved Ones and, of course, the role of the Scarlet Witch in the Marvel Cinematic Universe made Elizabeth one of the most promising Hollywood stars. We will tell you how the success of Mary-Kate and Ashley influenced Elizabeth’s career, and what her relationship with the legendary sisters is like. Looking at her older sisters, Elizabeth did not aspire to become a star as a child.
In an interview, Elizabeth admitted that as a child, she was frightened by the frenzied attention of the paparazzi on her sisters, who were at the peak of fame in the early 2000s. She calls her growing-up experience “unique.” Mary-Kate and Ashley acted in films literally from infancy, and by the end of the 90s, journalists did not leave them a single step.
Seeing how her sisters were growing, Elizabeth was in no hurry to start a professional acting career. Her father invited Elizabeth to write all the pros and cons of acting, and, after weighing the arguments, the girl decided to postpone her career and live a normal childhood.
The increased attention to the Olsen twins prevented Elizabeth from developing in cinema. When Mary-Kate announced in 2004 that she was being treated for anorexia nervosa, the media drew so much attention to their family that Elizabeth gave up filming for several years. Only in 2011, she returned to the screens, but how – her work in the film “Martha, Marcy May, Marlene” received a lot of rave reviews from critics.
Growing up, Elizabeth decided to focus on the “intellectual experience” of her career, rather than becoming famous as soon as possible. This probably explains her careful approach to the selection of roles.
The sisters helped Elizabeth navigate Hollywood
Mary-Kate and Ashley had been in the industry almost since birth, so they knew Hollywood and could tell Elizabeth how to behave. As Elizabeth reported in a 2017 interview, the twins gave her a lot of advice at one time, in particular on which people to work with.
Elizabeth did not use family ties to get roles
Despite the support and advice of the sisters, Elizabeth always emphasizes that she did not use family ties to get roles. She sought to distance herself from Mary-Kate and Ashley and make her acting path completely different from theirs.
She hid her last name from classmates and teachers
In early childhood, Elizabeth not only refused to show off her kinship with her movie star sisters but even deliberately hid this information from others. So, in all school documents, the girl was recorded as Lizzie Chase – this is how she introduced herself to her classmates.
Information about Elizabeth’s family was revealed only in high school, but by that time, the future star had already come to terms with the fact that her entourage would try to use her as a way to get closer to her more famous sisters. Subsequently, Elizabeth admitted that the disclosed information shocked her classmates, but the excitement around her family very quickly faded away.
Missed a role in “Spy Kids”
It is not known how Elizabeth’s career could have developed if she had started acting as a teenager, but it is known about at least one failure in her attempts to become an actress.
So, Olsen dreamed of getting a role in the film “Spy Kids” by Robert Rodriguez but lost it to Alex PenaVega. The producers and director explained their choice very simply: initially they approved the actors who played the parents of the young heroes, who have obvious Latin American roots, and, according to the same principle, they subsequently selected candidates for the roles of Carmen and Junie Cortez.
Studied in Russia
In 2018, Elizabeth became a guest on the evening show of TV humorist Conan O’Brien, during which she admitted that she speaks a little Russian, and on the air, she gave out a set of obscene words she knew in Russian. Domestic fans of the actress were delighted with her knowledge, and the journalists found out that Olsen had “caught up” Russian curses during a six-month training in Moscow.
Under the student exchange program, Elizabeth completed a short course at the Moscow Art Theater School. “I only came for a couple of semesters as part of a student exchange. We were assigned, translators. The course was devoted to plasticity, dance, and movements, so even the basic English that the teachers knew was enough for us, ”the star later told about this experience.
In addition, to swear words, the actress took away from Moscow fond memories of a short but vivid romance with a classmate, at that time 24-year-old Ilya Bocharnikov. The relationship did not last long due to distance and time zone differences.
Only from the second time she got her breakthrough role
Their first work in the cinema for Elizabeth was the thriller “Quiet House”, to which she reacted with all the responsibility and fervor of an aspiring actress. However, the film flopped at the box office and did not live up to critics’ expectations. The next test of the star became much more successful. She starred in Martha, Marcy May, Marlene, a drama about a dangerous cult leader who pushes his fragile followers to crime while ruining their lives.
