Ashley and her twin sister,
Mary-Kate Olsen, were born June 13, 1986 in Sherman Oaks, CA to David and Jarnette Olsen. The twins began their acting career in 1987 when they were chosen to play the role of Michelle Tanner on a new TV series,
Full House (1987/I). The show became a hit with books, dolls, and other merchandise being sold to promote it, and during the years the show was on the air, the Olsen twins had a TVQ (popularity rating) second only to
Bill Cosby. The twins continued to share the role through the show's end in 1995. During the years of Full House
Full House they teamed up with
Robert Thorne and created Dualstar, their production Company. Soon they had recorded an album titled
Brother For Sale and a music video called
Our First Video. In the years that followed they starred in three straight to video movies ,
To Grandmother's House We Go (1992) (TV),
Double, Double, Toil and Trouble (1993) (TV), and
How the West Was Fun (1994) (TV). They also created their own video series called
The Adventures of Mary-Kate and Ashley, in which they were pint detectives who would "solve any crime by dinner time." They also have another successful video series,
You're Invited to Mary-Kate and Ashley's and both video series continue to be popular today. In 1995 they made their big screen debut in
It Takes Two (1995) and in the next few years they continued to make videos in their series. In 1998 they returned to TV in the short-lived series,
Two of a Kind (1998). They made a few more TV movies, appeared on many talk shows, and began work on a new TV series titled
So Little Time (2001).