Elizabeth Chase Olsen was born February 16, 1989 and is an American actress and model. Her breakthrough came in 2011 when she starred in the independent thriller drama Martha Marcy May Marlene. She subsequently starred in the films Silent House (2011), Liberal Arts (2012), Oldboy (2013), Godzilla (2014), I Saw the Light (2015), Ingrid Goes West (2017), and Wind River (2017). Olsen went on to star in the web television drama series Sorry for Your Loss (2018–present), on which she was also executive producer.
She achieved global recognition when she appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch, with her first appearance in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) in the end credit scene, then a lead in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019).
Olsen was born in Sherman Oaks, California, to Jarnette “Jarnie”, a personal manager, and David “Dave” Olsen, a real estate developer and mortgage banker. She is the younger sister of twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, who became noted at an early age as TV and film stars. Olsen also has an older brother, Trent, and two younger half-siblings. In 1996, her parents divorced. The Olsens have Norwegian and English ancestry.
Olsen began acting when she was four years old and co-starred in six of Mary-Kate and Ashley’s productions. She almost quit acting in 2004 due to the media frenzy surrounding Mary-Kate’s eating disorder.
In late 2018, Disney confirmed a Marvel television series starring Olsen and Paul Bettany would be aired on their upcoming Disney+ streaming service; the title of the show, WandaVision, was confirmed in April 2019. The series will be a direct tie-in to the upcoming film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, where Olsen was confirmed to be a part of the cast.
As a child, Olsen received ballet and singing lessons. She began acting at a young age, with appearances in her sisters’ films. Before the age of 11, Olsen had small roles in How the West Was Fun and the straight-to-video series The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley. Having appeared in her sisters’ videos, when she was in the fourth grade, Olsen began to go on auditions for other projects. She attended Campbell Hall School in North Hollywood, California, from kindergarten through grade 12.
After graduation, she enrolled at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. In 2009, Olsen spent a semester studying in Moscow at the Moscow Art Theatre School through the MATS program at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center.
Her sisters’ clothing line “Elizabeth and James” was named after her and her older brother.
Olsen has been an atheist since the age of 13.
