15 Surprising Things Fans Didn’t Know About Elizabeth Olsen

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Elizabeth Olsen is the younger sister of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. She's three years younger than the twins and starting at age 4 she first appeared as herself in cameo appearances in the twins' straight-to-video films. At 7, the precocious star gave up acting so not to resemble her sisters' path. But acting was in her blood, despite the fact that it took her over a decade to land her first real movie part.

She played the lead in the critically-acclaimed and much-lauded movie, Martha Marcy May Marlene. The film, which garnered numerous critics’ awards and brought her to Cannes for the first time, launched a noteworthy career out of the gate. After that, she appeared in six movies, but it was in 2014 where she made a big splash, playing Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch in the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise. She is set to appear in Avengers: Infinity War in a few months, and the whole world is going to know who she is. She will not be known as the younger sister of the Olsens. Instead, she'll hold her own, as Elizabeth Olsen.

The one thing you have to know about Olsen while you're getting to know her is that she's fiercely independent. Olsen got every single role on her own. Her sisters didn't help her at all.

So who is Elizabeth "Lizzy" Olsen outside her movies? If you're crushing on her like us--she's such a new, fresh face!-- or if you think she's the one who is destined to blow up in Hollywood, we hope you'll enjoy 15 things that fans like you don't know about Elizabeth Olsen.

The Olsen Twins Named a Line For Elizabeth and Their Brother

In 2007, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen launched a fashion line. The collection includes clothing, but it was the accessories that got all the attention. From satchels to clutches and from wallets to bags, the line is eclectic and affordable, with bags starting at around $80 and going up to around $600. As Mary-Kate told WWD,

"We wanted the price point to be strong. In fact, the price point is below Alexander Wang and Phillip Lim but above Marc Jacobs and Tory Burch."

Ashley stressed that the bags are not extravagant in price and are affordable. She's on defense mode because many in the industry said their initial line of bags were too expensive. Purse prices ranged from a whopping $39,000 to $55,000. Who in their right mind would buy such expensive pieces?

Why are we telling you this? Well, the Olsen twins wanted to show their love, so they named the brand Elizabeth and James for Elizabeth and their brother, James. James, who actually goes by his middle name, Trent, develops movies for a living. If he wanted to, he could have asked his sisters "for help with movie stuff and anything, really,” a friend of James said. "But I think he wants to do it all basically on his own.”

Elizabeth Has A Hobby!

Lizzie's hobby is cooking. She loves being in the kitchen. She loves making baked goods that she shares with her family. To celebrate her 23rd birthday, she chose to go shopping with her mother for new pots and pans rather than throw a huge party. That night on her birthday, she even baked herself a birthday cake. She has such a passion for food that she admitted she felt bad eating when she knew in Hollywood that celebs never touch sugary baked goods and are often restrained by their diet, which is usually grilled chicken.

She said, "I look at some actresses and say, 'There's no way she eats'. That's not me - I get way too much happiness from good food."

We wonder how she's not getting big. Does she work out? Or does she have good genes like her twin sisters who weight, like, 45 pounds each? Maybe she'll even get her own cooking show some day.

She Stood by Mary-Kate's Side During A Scandal

Long before she started to appear in mainstream films, Elizabeth Olsen was deciding whether or not if she should stay in the business and continue acting. The problem was, Mary-Kate had been admitted to rehab to cure her of her eating disorder in 2004. When the media found out, they circled around the family like a shark, took pictures of all the Olsens, and publicized their every move. Elizabeth took a break from acting because she saw how the paparazzi could be so brutal. She told Nylon magazine,

"The media was abusive to my sisters, and I thought I really didn't want to be in the industry. They turned 18 and what was going on in her life - I'm talking about Mary-Kate - was all over the news."

She went on to say, "They would follow us shopping and [the twins] would almost get into car accidents because of the paparazzi, and I didn't want to be a part of it. I just thought: 'This is such bulls**t'." In the end, Olsen didn't quit acting, but only because she saw her sister getting better.

She Got Kicked Out Of School

Elizabeth came from a talented family. The twins could do it all. They acted, made movies, and, later in life, they became entrepreneurs. Lizzie felt she had to do something too. She loved sports, and, while still young--at around 7-- she learned to act and dance. But she felt she needed to do something on her own, to differentiate herself from her sisters who could turn anything into gold. So she took ballet lessons. Her teachers considered her extremely talented.

Despite such praise, she ended up getting kicked out of ballet school. The reason? She kept missing class to go on acting auditions.

She told Elle, while auditioning, "my ballet teacher wouldn't let me, because I was missing ballet classes and it was unfair." But everything worked out in the end. If Lizzie didn't audition a lot, she would've never gotten to the place where she is now. And besides, she told Elle that her passion was acting, ever since she was 7 while taking acting classes.

The Roles She Would've Wanted To Play

In Interview magazine, when asked what actor she would like to play in the history of film that's already done, Elizabeth Olsen said she would've wanted to be Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind. She said,

"[I'm not sure] if I want to play her, but Gone with the Wind is my favorite movie. I watch it all the time. I watched it yesterday morning."

She went on to say, "You know what I love about it—which is the reason I also love the character of Martha [in Martha Marcy May Marlene]—is that you want to hate Scarlett the whole movie, but you still want her to succeed and make it because you could "see her goodness." Another film she would've wanted to be in is Network (1976) where she could play Faye Dunaway's character. In a more contemporary vein, she would love to play the Parker Posey character in 1997's Waiting for Guffman.

A Sentimental Education

According to Interview magazine, Lizzie learned the mechanics of working on a movie. She closely watched how Sigourney Weaver behaved on set. With Weaver, "If she didn’t agree with something that she was asked to do, instead of just saying, 'No,' because she knew her character so well, she would have a very intelligent conversation and say, 'Yes, but this is where I am right now, this is where she is, and this is why I think this would happen.' Just standing by her gut instincts and making her own choice without ever seeming difficult." That's how diplomatic Olsen wanted to be on set.

In her first movie, Peace, Love & Misunderstanding, she didn’t "realize I could tell the costume designer, 'I don’t really want to wear this,' because I felt that was his job and I didn’t want to step on his toes."

This was Olsen's sentimental education. She watched, she learned. She realized that her role in movies was a collaboration among so many people who were all on set or backstage trying to get a movie made.

Her First Role In A Movie Received Across-the-Board Accolades

Talk about scoring! Elizabeth Olsen's very first role won accolades from all over the world. The movie, Martha Marcy May Marlene, was her big break in 2011, as well as the most critically acclaimed in that year.

It won the U.S. Directing Award for Best Drama at the Sundance Film Festival.

Olsen won Best Breakthrough Performance at the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, Best Actress through the Boston Society of Film Critics Awards, Best Actress through the Central Ohio Film Critics Association, Most Promising Performer from the Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, the Pauline Kael Breakout Award from the Florida Film Critics Circle Awards, Best Actress from the Indiana Film Critics Association Awards and Best Actress in a Leading Role from the Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards. So many successes! She needs to come out with a movie that will win her an Oscar, which seems to be the only award she didn't win.

Olsen Was Only 22 Before Making Her Big-Screen Debut

It was not until she was 22, in 2011, that Elizabeth Olsen won the role of her lifetime. She played the titular character in the critically-acclaimed movie Martha Marcy May Marlene. After fleeing from a cult to get back to her family, Martha has a hard time surviving in the normal world, as she suffered from paranoia and delusions after being kept apart by the cult.

It was the success of Marcy May Marlene that led her to be cast in more movies, and which ultimately paved her way later in life to land in a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie.

She had an uncredited cameo in Captain America: Winter Soldier, but she followed that with a starring role in Avengers: Age of Ultron, which she played Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff.

Olsen Did It All Her Own To Make it As An Actress

We've already told you that Olsen didn't use her last name while in high school so she wouldn't get preferential treatment. But while she dropped the ruse after high school, she still did it all her own, without any help from her more famous sisters. After graduation, she attended New York University's prestigious 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. After that, she earned two understudy Broadway roles after studying in the Atlantic Theater Company conservatory program. That was when she was discovered.

An agent contacted her, not caring about her last name, which led her to her path in movies.

But there is an exception where Olsen used her famous last name to advantage. According to an interview in Bon Appetit, "I only use it at Il Buco in New York, because it’s one of my favorite restaurants. If they say they’re booked, then I’m kinda like, 'Okay, well, I’m in the computer…" So she uses her last name only if necessary. This shows how much she wants to stand on her own!

She Lost Her First Big Audition

Elizabeth Olsen's acting career began when she was four. She starred as herself in Mary-Kate and Ashley's various straight-to-video films starting when she was very young. These were only cameos, so she only appeared in five of the twins' films. At age 10, she decided to become a true movie star actress.

Olsen auditioned for the children-themed Spy Kids. It was the first role she auditioned for. She got a call-back but didn't get the part.

If she had, she would've become an actress earlier, rather than a decade later. But failing to nab the part was a blessing in disguise. If she landed Spy Kids, she believed she would've been type cast and wouldn't receive roles that were serious in nature. She didn't feel sad losing the part in Spy Kids because she knew there was a role out there that matched her wants and needs.

She Used Her Brother As Research

In 2015, Olsen starred in a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, which was a big deal because Marvel movies are a box-office draw, which meant she would gain more exposure in Hollywood. First, she had an uncredited cameo in Captain America: Winter Soldier in 2014, but she followed that by Avengers: Age of Ultron in 2015, where she had a real role, reprising her cameo as Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff in Captain America.

Olsen had no knowledge of comic books and action movies. To prep for the role, she enlisted her brother Trent, who was a huge comic book fan, for some much-needed tutorials.

Trevor taught her everything she needed to know. In an interview about the part, Olsen explained: "Actually I gave Trevor homework before the studio gave me a bunch of stuff to read. "I told my brother: 'Tell me which ones (comics) I need to be looking for, which ones you think are the most exciting stories', and he just literally gave me a list per title, like 'Number 16 of this series', all that stuff. "He's very helpful, that one..."

Acting Embarrassed Her

Elizabeth was embarrassed about starting her career as an actress. She even had some backup plans. This was when she was living in Los Angeles, where everyone else said they were actors. This was also after her older sister had to go to rehab and was stalked by paparazzi upon release. She mentioned her feelings about this time and said:

“I was embarrassed to say that I wanted to be an actor. When I was 14 or 15, I was a really good volleyball player, so I thought, ‘Well, maybe I’ll just get a scholarship to an Ivy League school through volleyball.’"

Thank God she remained an actress. You don't win scholarships for volleyball. Or at least in the Ivy League you don't. After that fleeting thought, she decided to focus on theater. She said, "I had a great drama teacher in high school, and that’s when I started to learn about the history of theater."

She's A Head Taller Than Her Sisters

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are not only petite, but also short. While Mary-Kate is five feet, two inches tall, Ashley is an inch shorter. Compared to Elizabeth, they don't really shine as much as she does.

While not particularly tall, Elizabeth is five feet, six inches tall.

She's actually a whole head taller than her sisters! So this fun fact means that the little sister, Elizabeth, ended up taller than her older sisters. Another fun fact: if Elizabeth wore heels and her sisters didn't, their heads might get cut off in a picture and Elizabeth would look like the Jolly Green Giant! Too bad we don't know how tall Trent is. Maybe he's super tall, like six feet. Now where's that Christmas card with a photograph of all those Olsens? They're rarely seen together, and if we got a copy of that card, we'd really find out who's tall and who's not.

She Remains Calm During Auditions

We don't know how Elizabeth Olsen does it. Every audition she remains cool and calm. That's rare. Most actors, even A-listers, do get nervous during auditions because they know their fates rest on those auditions. Even those who've been on many auditions say they still get bugged out. If they're sweating, how could you trust that actor? They may sweat on takes! And who wants that liability?

Lucky for us, Elizabeth once pointed out in an interview how she stays calm and collected during auditions.

She said, "I really actually enjoy auditioning. I believe that you are only in control of so much. So, whatever you are not in control of you can't worry about. So, one of those things is what the director wants to cast, what he wants them to look like, does it work with his idea or not. You just try to be present for this amount of time."

She's Not Wigged Out Watching Herself

Many stars admit they don't watch the films they star in. It's kind of weird watching yourself. Some can't even listen to their voices. As for others, if they do end up watching themselves, they'll start to nitpick and question why they are actors now that they can see themselves "acting." But Elizabeth is different. She wants to watch the movies she's in for personal reflection. She wants to know how good she is, and where she needs work. As Elizabeth said,

"I'm not someone who'll watch myself and be like, 'Oh, I'm so uncomfortable watching myself.' I find that watching yourself is an interesting step in making movies."

She then added, "I'm still very new to everything [at the time], but I find it important to go back and learn from what you did, as opposed to avoiding it."