5. Curious who were the Olsen twins’ first on-screen kisses? Just pop in Passport to Paris, which featured Mary-Kate kissing Ethan Peck, Gregory Peck‘s grandson, and Ashley kissing Brocker Way.
6. When Dualstar Entertainment Group launched in 1993, it made the then 6-year-old twins producers and owners of the production company that would release all of their 47 direct-to-DVD movies and music video series (including The Adventures Of…and You’re Invited to...franchises).
The films, while successful, weren’t exactly challenging, with Mary-Kate later telling W Magazine, “We didn’t have to dig too deep. We were playing cutesy little twins who solved mysteries. There was no depth to any of the characters. It was somebody else’s idea of ourselves. It was very much people-pleasing as opposed to actually, I guess, working for it.”
Of becoming CEOs at such a young age, Ashley told WWD in 2013, “We couldn’t see over the top of the table. I always looked at myself, even as a kid, as a businesswoman.”
Even at a young age, they were focused on the bigger picture and building a longterm brand. “I don’t think it ever felt like we were actresses,” Mary-Kate explained, “because we spent so much more of our time not in front of the cameras, building a brand.”
During this time, they released albums, a magazine, a clothing line with Walmart, a cosmetics line, board games, video games, an animated TV series and a line of bedroom furniture. They eventually became the youngest self-made millionaires, and when they turned 18, they joined the list of the richest teenagers in the world when they took full ownership of Dualstar. Their estimated combined net worth? Around $300 million.
While Dualstar eventually shut down, Hulu brought some of their biggest releases to their streaming service in May 2019, including Passport to Paris and Holiday in the Sun.
7. New York Minute, the twins’ second theatrical release after 1995’s It Takes Two, would end up being Mary-Kate and Ashley’s final film together, earning a disappointing $14 million when it was released in 2004. In fact, the movie would serve as Ashley’s final acting credit ever, with Mary-Kate going on to appear in the TV series Weeds before making her final on-screen turn in 2011’s Beastly.
“I don’t like to be the center of attention anymore,” Ashley told Elle UK of leaving the acting world. “It doesn’t mean I’m not interested in Hollywood. I like the way it operates, I like the people who are involved and the sense of possibility. But if I ever get back in, it’s not going to be as an actress.”
