Mary-Kate Olsen: Her Celebrity Life as a Child, Teen, and Young Adult

Mary-Kate Olsen, a Hollywood celebrity and entrepreneur who rose to stardom with the famed tandem with her twin sister Ashley, makes a comeback on the big screen with "Beastly," a modern adaptation of "Beauty and the Beast." This time, the former child sensation works on the film on her own without the usual "twin appearance" of her and her sister in the same project.

Projects as a Child Star

The Sherman Oaks born Mary-Kate started her acting career as a toddler. Born June 13, 1986, it took only a year before she and Ashley were chosen to play Michelle Tanner on the TV series "Full House." The Olsen twins' early career made them one of the most famous child stars of their time, while also earning the title "The Most Famous Twins in Entertainment."

Growing Up in Show Business

During the many fruitful years of their young acting career, the Olsen twins made a number of media projects including their more popular works from 1992 to 1994 including the recording album entitled "Brother for Sale" and the music video "Our First Video," the straight-to-video movies "To Grandmother's House We Go," "Double, Double, Toil and Trouble," and "How the West Was Fun."

As Mary-Kate grew up, her acting stints as one of the renowned Olsen twins weren't as groundbreaking as what she and her sister readily achieved with "Full House." Yet, most of these projects lived up with their steady fame as they would frequently star in major film and TV projects together. Some of these popular works include "7th Heaven," "Mary-Kate and Ashley in Action!" "When in Rome," "Getting There," and "New York Minute."

The Grown-up Mary-Kate Outside Her Acting Career

As a household name hugely popular in the preteen market during the late 1990s to early 2000s, Mary-Kate and Ashley went from child stars to fashion icons and entrepreneurs. Aside from owning the entertainment empire Dualstar Entertainment, the spark came for the two to get the idea of starting a line of clothes after realizing how the bandannas they wore in one of their direct-to-video movies led to a trend across the United States. For a number of times, their success was featured in Forbes Celebrity 100 list and even ranked them as the eleventh-richest women in entertainment with an estimated net worth of $100 million.

The twins' business thrived as they continuously raked in millions of dollars with their clothing lines appearing in stores like JCPenney and Walmart. Not long after, they expanded their fashion lines with the high-end brand The Row, which was inspired by London's Savile Row. The brand is sold at a number of high-end retailers including Harvey Nichols, Brown's, Barneys, and Maxfield. They also released their own perfume line aptly branded as Mary-Kate and Ashley and the fashion line for adults called Olsenboye.

Big Screen Comeback as an Adult

As they grew up, Mary-Kate and Ashley expectedly wanted to seek identity as individuals. They intended to spend more time in their careers as separate persons outside their image as celebrity twins. Currently, Ashley is focusing on their fashion lines, while Mary-Kate seems to juggle in between being an entrepreneur and an actress.

For Mary-Kate, as a teen and young adult, she already appeared in major and cameo roles in movies and TV releases on her own. From 2006 to present she starred in "The Wackness," "Factory Girl," "Weeds," "Samantha Who?," and "Beastly." She is also working in the "Story of a Girl," which is currently in production.