In what will come as a surprise to no one, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are done with show business, having chosen instead to focus their attentions on the fashion and beauty world.
While the 27-year-old twins, who got their start splitting time as the precocious Michelle on “Full House” when they were just nine-months-old in 1987, may have made their name through roles on the big and small screens, they’ve always thought of themselves as more than just actresses.
“With what we were doing in business when we were younger, I don’t think it ever felt like we were actresses — because we spent so much more of our time not in front of the cameras, building a brand,” Mary-Kate said in a combined interview with Women’s Wear Daily earlier this month.
This mindset has proven to be the correct one, as the twins now head the mega-successful licensing and manufacturing company, Dualstar Entertainment Group, under includes their fashion label, The Row.
Even though neither twin are memorizing lines anymore — Ashley has not appeared in a film since 2004’s “New York Minute,” while Mary-Kate appeared in “the Wackness” in 2008 and “Beastly” in 2011 — they haven’t completely forgotten where they came from.
“We have a video catalog of everything we did when we were younger, so we’re looking at distribution for that now,” said Ashley. “That’s not being in show business, but it’s been fun talking to these people we used to be in business with many, many years ago. But the industries are completely different.”
“We still feel welcome in the [entertainment] industry,” Mary-Kate continued. “But it’s not the one we’re in.”
While the twins are unlikely to change their mind, fans of the Olsen family can still watch the twin’s younger sister act. Elizabeth Olsen stars in the remake of Korean revenge thriller “Oldboy,” next summer’s “Godzilla” reboot and the 2015 sequel to “Marvel’s The Avengers.”