Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen

Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Fuller Olsen (born June 13, 1986), also known as the Olsen twins, are American fashion designers and former actresses.

Mary-Kate and Ashley made their acting debut as infants playing Michelle Tanner on the television sitcom Full House (1987–1995).

As they grew older, they began starring in other television shows, films, and media through their own production company, Dualstar.

The twins became preteen icons, and some of the wealthiest women in the entertainment industry at a young age.

In 1987, at the age of six months, the twins were cast in the role of Michelle Tanner on the ABC sitcom Full House.

They began filming at nine months old.

In order to comply with child labor laws that set strict limits on how long a child actor may work, the sisters took turns playing the role.

Mary-Kate and Ashley were popular figures in the preteen market during the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Their names and likenesses extended not only to movies and videos, but to clothes, shoes, purses, hats, books, CDs and cassette tapes, fragrances and makeup, magazines, video and board games, dolls, posters, calendars, and even telephones and CD players—with a market share made up mostly of the tween demographic.

In 1992, Mary-Kate and Ashley shared the role of Michelle Tanner when they guest-starred on the Full House crossover episode of Hangin' with Mr. Cooper.

While starring on Full House, the Olsens also began appearing (as separate characters) in films for video and television.

The first such film, To Grandmother's House We Go, debuted in 1992 and featured cameos from several other Full House actors.

In 1993, the Olsens established the company Dualstar, which would produce the twins' subsequent films and videos, including 1993's Double, Double, Toil and Trouble and 1994's How the West Was Fun.

A series of musical mystery videos called The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley premiered in 1994 and continued through 1997.

The twins' parents divorced in 1995; Taylor and Jake are from their father's second marriage.

The Olsen twins have Norwegian ancestry.

The Olsens continued to portray Michelle throughout the show's run, which concluded in 1995.

In 1995, following the end of Full House, the Olsens made their feature film debut in It Takes Two, co-starring Steve Guttenberg and Kirstie Alley.

In 1997, they appeared once again as guest stars in an episode of Sister Sister.

Also, in 1998, the twins returned to series television with another ABC sitcom, Two of a Kind, co-starring Christopher Sieber as their characters' widowed father.

The series lasted only one season but aired in reruns on cable for several years afterward.

1998 also saw the release of Billboard Dad, the first of a new string of direct-to-video films starring the Olsens.

The club was advertised at the beginning of Mary-Kate and Ashley movies until 1998.

The Olsens stepped away from acting in the mid-2000s and entered the fashion design industry.

In the same year, they introduced a second video series, You're Invited to Mary-Kate & Ashley's..., which continued to release new entries until 2000.

The following year, the Olsens appeared in an episode of All My Children.

Mary-Kate and Ashley had a fan club until 2000, "Mary-Kate & Ashley's Fun Club", where fans would pay to receive Mary-Kate and Ashley collectibles and photos.

Each subscription included an issue of Our Funzine, Mary-Kate and Ashley's fan club magazine, exclusively available through the club, and a collectibles catalog, where one could purchase T-shirts, posters, baseball caps, key rings, school folders, postcards, and various other items.

Subscribers would also receive "surprise gifts" (usually key rings, book excerpts, or back issues of the Funzine), lyric sheets to Mary-Kate and Ashley's songs, a school folder, a membership card, a full-sized poster, two black and white photos (one of each girl), and a color photo with reprint autographs.

The final such film, The Challenge, debuted in 2003.In 2000, the Olsens appeared in an episode of 7th Heaven as bad girls Sue and Carol Murphy.

The following year, the sisters starred in two new series: So Little Time, a live-action sitcom on Fox Family (later ABC Family); and Mary-Kate and Ashley in Action!, an animated series airing Saturday mornings on ABC.

Both shows were canceled after one season, although Mary-Kate received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for her performance on So Little Time.

In early 2004, Mary-Kate and Ashley had a cameo voice role in an episode of The Simpsons as the readers of Marge's book-on-tape, The Harpooned Heart.

Also in 2004, the twins starred in a second feature film, New York Minute.

It would be their last film together, as well as Ashley's last acting role.

Mary-Kate has continued to appear in film and television.

They founded their own luxury fashion label in 2006, The Row, based in New York City.

They have won several awards from the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA).

The twins were born in Sherman Oaks, California, to David "Dave" Olsen and Jarnette "Jarnie" (née Jones ).

They have an elder brother, Trent, and a younger sister, actress Elizabeth, as well as a half-sister, Courtney Taylor, and a half-brother, Jake.