I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that few child actors have had the same success as Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.

The Olsen twins were two of the – if not the – most popular child actors in the world during the 1980s and 1990s. Starring on the popular series Full House, massively helped their brand, and they went on to do other TV shows and movies after the series ended.

Of course, many of today’s greatest actors have starred on classic shows as children. But in many cases, they’ve had smaller roles that can’t be counted as breakthrough ones.

However, the twins are known for being very private and seldom speaking in public. But now, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have given their first interview in years.

Even from the day they were born their parents could see that the little girls were special. Their father, David, was a real estate developer, and their mother, Jarnette, worked as a personal manager.

The twins became superstars overnight when they starred in the classic television series Full House.

Olsen twins became stars in Full House

It’s likely that the Olsen twins can’t even remember their first time in front of the cameras. They made their acting debut in 1987, when they were only nine months old, sharing the role as young daughter Michelle Tanner on the sitcom Full House.

To get the part in the popular series they had to beat out nine other pairs of twins. The truth is that the production team of the series had actually decided on another set of twins to play “Michelle Tanner”. But when the producer saw the Olsen twins, he decided to go for them instead.

And the twins quickly became famous all over the world –people just couldn’t help but fall in love with the cute and charming little toddlers.

Full House ran for a total of eight years, so when Mary-Kate and Ashely were only 12 years old they were already big celebrities. The whole world was thrilled by the twins’ character, Michelle. Her most memorable line of them all, “You got it, dude!” became a classic.

As most people may know today, Mary-Kate and Ashley shared the work of portraying Michelle. Since they were so small at the time, the production had to alternate between the girls, otherwise, it would be unendurable for one so young.

I would guess that almost everyone believes that the Olsen twins are identical twins, but the fact is that they are not. Mary-Kate and Ashley are fraternal twins, this means that they could just as easily look nothing alike. They only share half of their genes, just like any other siblings.

After Full House

After Full House the Olsen twins starred in feature films and landed a television series, Two of a Kind, which aired from 1998 to 1999. They also then starred in several musical detective videos called The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley, as well as You’re Invited to Mary-Kate and Ashley’s sleepover party tapes.