Ashley Olsen
Ashley Olsen is an actor, born 1986.
Ashley Olsen started working at nine months old, which is a labour fact rather than a fun one. She and her twin sister Mary-Kate shared the role of Michelle Tanner on Full House from 1987, splitting one character between two babies because American production rules limit how long an infant can be on set. By the time the series finished in 1995 the sisters were a brand as much as a cast pairing.
What followed was one of the most efficient child-star businesses ever assembled. Through the late nineties and early 2000s the Olsens headlined a stream of direct-to-video features built to a formula: two girls, one foreign city, a light mystery, a soundtrack. Passport to Paris, Winning London, Holiday in the Sun, Getting There. There were theatrical attempts too, It Takes Two alongside Kirstie Alley and Steve Guttenberg, and finally New York Minute in 2004.
Then she stopped. New York Minute is her last acting role of any size, and she has spent the two decades since in fashion, taken seriously by an industry with no reason to be sentimental about her. Walking away in her teens, from a career she was never old enough to choose, is the most interesting decision in this filmography, and it is worth holding in mind while the direct-to-video titles are being laughed at. She did the work. Then she declined to keep doing it.
Movies (14)
- The Little Rascals (1994)
- It Takes Two (1995)
- New York Minute (2004)
- Passport to Paris (1999)
- Billboard Dad (1998)
- Winning London (2001)
- Our Lips Are Sealed (2000)
- When in Rome (2002)
- Switching Goals (1999)
- Double, Double, Toil and Trouble (1993)
- To Grandmother's House We Go (1992)
- My Date with Drew (2005)
- Holiday in the Sun (2001)
- Getting There (2002)
TV (3)
Books (1)
Where to start with Ashley Olsen
Full House is where everyone starts and where most people can stop: a sitcom of enormous warmth and very little edge, with Michelle powering it long before either Olsen could read a script.
Of the films, It Takes Two is the best made, a Parent Trap variation with real adult comic actors working around them. New York Minute is the interesting one, a deliberate attempt to graduate the brand into teen comedy, and it is more watchable than its reputation suggests.
The travelogue features are exactly what they appear to be: cheerful, weightless, made fast. Passport to Paris is the format at its most charming, with Winning London and Holiday in the Sun following the same blueprint. Dare to scare is one of the tie-in books the same machine produced.