MARY KATE AND ASHLEY OLSEN

Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Fuller Olsen (born June 13, 1986) are American actresses, fashion designers, and businesswomen. Following their acting debut as infants on the TV series Full House, the twin sisters appeared together in a variety of TV, film and video projects throughout their child and teenage years. Through their company Dualstar, the Olsens joined the ranks of the wealthiest women in the entertainment industry at a young age.

Early life and family
The twins were born in Sherman Oaks, California to David Olsen[1] (b. 1953) and Jarnette (Jarnie) Jones (b. 1954). Despite being very similar in appearance, they claim to be fraternal twins.They have an older brother, Trent, and a younger sister, Elizabeth, as well as two half-brothers, Taylor and Jake. The twins' parents divorced in 1995; Taylor and Jake are from their father's second marriage.

Mary-Kate and Ashley's sister Elizabeth became an actress as an adult, making an acclaimed film debut in 2011's Martha Marcy May Marlene.

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

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 that year'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.

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 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 twins returned to series television in 1998 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 final such film, When in Rome, debuted in 2002.

In 2001, 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 cancelled after one season, although Mary-Kate received a Daytime Emmy Awards nomination for her performance on So Little Time.

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.

Dualstar
Mary-Kate and Ashley were popular figures in the preteen market during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Their names and likenesses extended to clothes, books, fragrances, magazines, movies and posters, with a market share made up mostly of the tween demographic. Mattel also produced Mary-Kate and Ashley fashion dolls from 2000 to 2005.

The sisters became co-presidents of Dualstar on their 18th birthday in 2004.Upon taking control of the company, Mary-Kate and Ashley made moves to secure the future of the company by releasing products that appealed to the teen market, including home decoration and fragrances. The Dualstar brand has been sold in more than 3,000 stores in the United States and over 5,300 stores worldwide.

The Olsens have appeared on the Forbes "Celebrity 100" list since 2002; in 2007, Forbes ranked them (collectively) as the eleventh-richest women in entertainment, with an estimated net worth of US$100 million.

Fashion
As the sisters have matured, there has been greater interest in their fashion choices, with the New York Times declaring Mary-Kate a fashion icon for pioneering her signature (and now popular among celebrities and fans alike) "homeless" look.The style, sometimes referred to by fashion journalists as "ashcan" or "bohemian-bourgeois",is similar to the boho-chic style popularized in Britain by Kate Moss and Sienna Miller. The look consists of oversized sunglasses, boots, loose sweaters, and flowing skirts, with an aesthetic of mixing high-end and low-end pieces. The twins were tapped as the faces of upscale fashion line Badgley Mischka in 2006.

The Olsens have a clothing line for girls ages 4-14 in Wal-Mart stores across North America, as well as a beauty line called "Mary-Kate and Ashley: Real fashion for real girls". In 2004 they made news by signing a pledge to allow full maternity leave to all the workers that sew their line of clothing in Bangladesh. The National Labor Committee, which organized the pledge, praised the twins for their commitment to worker rights.

The Olsens have also launched their own couture fashion label, "The Row", named after Savile Row in London. In 2007, they launched Elizabeth & James, a contemporary collection inspired by many of their unique vintage finds and pieces in their personal wardrobes. They have also released a women's clothing line for J.C. Penney, called Olsenboye, and a t-shirt line called "StyleMint".

In 2008, the sisters published the book Influence, a compilation of interviews with many of the most prominent people in the field of fashion.