Parents divorced in 1995
The fraternal twinsisters Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Fuller Olsen were born in Los Angeles on Friday the 13th of June 1986. They were born under the sign of Gemini. They have an older brother, Trent, and a younger sister, Elizabeth (Lizzie). Their parents, Jarnette (Jarnie) and Dave Olsen, divorced in the spring of 1995.


Twins have a half-brother and half-sister
Dave Olsen married an other woman, McKenzie Taylor, from that marriage a son and daughter were born (Mary-Kate & Ashley's half-brother & half-sister). The twins live with their mom in California.


Twins can sense each other's feelings
Ashley's hobbies are dancing and tennis, while Mary-Kate likes horses, she has two of her own: CD and Star (and she won several prizes with them already). Both girls like regular things to do together: shopping, going to the movies, listening to 'N sync, cheerleading and Tae Bo. As twins the girls have always someone to talk with, and they can sense each other's feelings. Allthough they have arguements at times (mostly about clothes), they're each other's best friend.


Stars at the age of 9 months!
When Mary-Kate where 9 months old they were chosen to share the part of Michelle Tanner in the new sit-com Full House. Within the show they had the highest Q-ratings and on the whole ABC channel only Bill Cosby had a higher Q-rating than the Olsentwins. When they were young, the called their co-stars by their TV-names even off the set, so they would not mix up any names during the taping. They loved their work at Full house, at Saturdays Mary-Kate and Ashley even complained of not being able to go to the set.


Own production company: Dualstar Entertainment Group
In 1991 Dave Olsen hired a friend of him to be manager for the twins, Robert Thorne. Thorne founded the Dualstar Entertainment Group, with Mary-Kate & Ashley as owners. This made them the youngest producers in the history of Hollywood. In the same year Our first video was released together with the CDs Brother for sale and I'm the cute one. They all were rewarded with gold records. The twins first 90 minutes TV-movie was on ABC at Christmas 1992 and was titles To grandmother's house we go. A TV-movie, Mystery at the high seas, was based on this series. At halloween in the same year the twins had a new TV-movie: Double double toil and trouble. In 1994 the twins were on again in How the west was fun, they had a cameo in Little rascals and they started their detective series. In 1995 a lot changed for Mary-Kate & Ashley. The divorce of their parents and fact that Full house was cancelled made the critics believe the twins' career was over.


Divorce and cancelling Full House not the end
But Dualstar proved otherwise. They released a new party video series starting with: You're invited to Mary-Kate & Ashley's sleepover party. On November 17 their first big screen movie, It takes two, opened. It didn't do very well at the box-office (some critics joke that only two tickets were sold) but it was a huge hit when it was released on video. 1996 and 1997 were very quiet years for the twins. With only a few interviews, a few new videos (the last tape in The adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley-series was made in 1996, Thorne thought -correctly- the twins were getting to old to play detectives), a new CD and a couple of bookseries. 1998, however, has been very big for the twins so far. They released two new CDs, several new party videos, Our music video. On November 10, 1998 another long movie, Billboard dad, was released directly on video.


Two Of A Kind
But best of all in 1998 was new TV-series Two of a kind, which opened ABC's TGIF each friday. Two of a kind was a smart move of Dualstar. The twins were 12 years old when the sit-com started, and that's the age most childstars fade away. By releasing Two of a kind the twins could easily pass those "dangerous" years, unfortunatelly Two of a kind was axed after the first season. But that didn't stop the twins at all. quickly after the ending of Two of a kind, the twins teamed up with the USA womens soccer team, and they became ambassadors for the womens world cup in the USA in 1999. Together with this, a soccer movie, Switching Goals, was made, which aired on December 12 after several delays.


Twins as executive producers
During the summer of 1999 the twins were on a roll! After taping Switching Goals they flew of to Paris to tape a new direct to video movie, Passport to Paris, and their 9th party video, Fashion party. On both Passport to Paris and Switching Goals the twins were executive producers too. They made many important choices on script, casting and new ideas. In January the book Our Story was released, which gives a closer look on the twins than any other book before did. The twins are young girls, and to all young girls make-up and fashion are very important to them. That's why in the near future the twins will have their own clothing and cosmetics line set-up! Currently there are plans for three new movies and a new TV show. The twins also announced intrest in acting in an action movie.