Twin girls who were selected by chance to star as the same child on an unimpressive family-friendly sitcom eventually became the highest earning kids in history. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, the Olsen Twins, have a fascinating, strange, and completely unique story unlike any other kind of successful celebrity. As actresses, models, designers, and entrepreneurs, they quite literally took over the world. Here are some of the secrets to their success.
Born For Success
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen were born on June 13, 1986, in Sherman Oaks, California. Although they look completely identical, the twins are fraternal mirror twins – meaning they tend to be each other’s yin and yang. Ashley is right-handed and MK is left-handed, they part their hair on opposite sides, and seem to be each other’s missing piece more often than not.
First & Only Audition
In 1987, at the mere age of six months old, the adorable twins already had their first audition for a TV Show, the ABC sitcom ‘Full House’ for the role of Michelle Tanner. Little did they know, this was about to change their lives forever and be the start of a very successful acting career.
Full House
The sisters were cast on ‘Full House’ with the producers having absolutely no doubt that these were the perfect girls for the job. The sisters took turns playing the role in order to comply with the child labor laws that set limits on the number of hours a child that young could work.
Baby Dentures
While most people don’t even think about getting a pair of dentures until much, much later in life, Mary-Kate and Ashley started pretty early. They played Michelle on Full House until age 8, and of course still went through normal childhood changes, including losing their baby teeth. Since they lost them at different rates, they would both wear dentures.
First Film
Although it was made only for Television, the Olsen twins starred in their first film in 1992, ‘To Grandmother’s House We Go’. This was a huge year for them, and from then on they only continued to produce more and more films.
Nonstop Stardom
The twins starred in no shortage of highly successful direct-to-video films following their first in 1992. Some of these include Double, Double, Toil and Trouble; How the West Was Fun; Billboard Dad; Passport to Paris; Winning London; Holiday in the Sun.
Making History
At six years old, they became the youngest producers in the history of Hollywood. They created Dualstar Entertainment in 1993, and it became clear that they had a life of entrepreneurship ahead of them.
Already Awarded
In 1996, at the young age of 10 years old, they already started getting awarded and were very popular for their impressive work. They attended the Ninth Annual Annual Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Awards.
Hitting Up Theatres
In 1995, It Takes Two was the twin’s first film that made it to theatres. This movie told the story of two people who accidentally stumble upon each other, and to their complete shock, they look just like one another.
Child Millionaires
By the time they reached 10 years old (in 1997), they were already millions. In fact, they were the youngest self-made millionaires in American history. Way to go girls!
Never Ending Festivals
The twins suddenly became everywhere to be seen and were invited to all the big film festivals. In 1997, they attended the Audrey Hepburn Hollywood For Children Family Film Festival and looked as adorable and as professional as ever.
Self Titled Book
In 1998, the twins released a series of self-titled books that saw great success. The series had nearly 50 books, which were just as exciting as their movies, each one with a different adventure. And when it comes to Mary-Kate and Ashley, every story is one we want to follow. Remember their catchy motto ‘We’ll solve any crime, by dinner time’?
Non-Stop Adventure
With so much success in their books, it was followed by a series of video games that were released between 1999 and 2002. The games feature the twins in various places attempting to solve crimes and take care of animals. The games were released by Acclaim Entertainment and were for Playstation and Gameboy.
Big Girl Roles
1998 marked the end of the twin’s children roles, at the start of their teenage years. They made this legendary transition with the film ‘Billboard Dad’. Just their outfits and hair in the movie scream ‘grown up!’.
