Elizabeth Olsen facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Elizabeth Olsen
Olsen in 2024
Born	(1989-02-16) February 16, 1989 (age 36) Sherman Oaks, California, U.S.
Alma mater	New York University
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1993–present
Spouse(s)	Robbie Arnett ​ (m. 2019)​
Relatives	Mary-Kate Olsen (sister) Ashley Olsen (sister)

Elizabeth Chase Olsen, born on February 16, 1989, is an American actress. She is widely known for playing Wanda Maximoff, also known as the Scarlet Witch, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Her roles include the movies Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022). She also starred in the TV series WandaVision (2021), which earned her nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award.

Elizabeth was born in Sherman Oaks, California. She started acting at age four, often appearing in projects with her older sisters, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Her first big movie role was in the thriller Martha Marcy May Marlene in 2011, where her acting was highly praised. She was nominated for a BAFTA Rising Star Award and finished her studies at New York University two years later.

Besides her Marvel work, Elizabeth Olsen has starred in other popular films. These include the monster movie Godzilla (2014) and the mystery film Wind River (2017). She also appeared in the dramas Ingrid Goes West (2017) and His Three Daughters (2024). On television, she played a widow in the series Sorry for Your Loss (2018–2019) and Candy Montgomery in the miniseries Love & Death (2023), which brought her another Golden Globe nomination.

Early Life and Education

Elizabeth Chase Olsen was born on February 16, 1989, in Sherman Oaks, California. Her mother, Jarnie, used to be a dancer, and her father, Dave, works in real estate. Her father has Norwegian family roots. Her mother's family comes from France, Germany, and Italy. Elizabeth is the younger sister of famous twin fashion designers Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. They were very successful actresses when they were kids. She also has an older brother named James "Trent" Olsen. Her parents divorced in 1996. Through her father's second marriage, she has two half-siblings, Courtney and Jake.

Elizabeth started acting when she was four years old. She appeared in some of her sisters' projects, like the 1994 TV movie How the West Was Fun. She also appeared in the video series The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley. As a child, she took ballet lessons and acting classes. She also spent time at musical theater camps. For a while, she liked ballet more than acting. At one point, she even thought about becoming an accountant on Wall Street.

Elizabeth returned to acting in high school. She almost stopped acting in 2004 because of all the media attention on her family. She went to Campbell Hall School in Studio City, California. Later, she attended New York University (NYU)'s Tisch School of the Arts. While in college, she studied at the Atlantic Theater Company. She also spent a semester in Russia at the Moscow Art Theatre School. This is where she started to take acting much more seriously. She got roles as an understudy in plays, which helped her find an agent. Elizabeth graduated from NYU in January 2013.

Acting Career

Early Roles and Recognition (2011–2014)

Olsen at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con

Elizabeth Olsen made her first movie appearance in the 2011 thriller Martha Marcy May Marlene. The movie and her acting received great reviews after it first showed at the Sundance Film Festival. Elizabeth was nominated for several awards for her role as Martha. Martha is a young woman who has trouble with reality after leaving a cult and returning to her family. Elizabeth said she was interested in the character because she was curious about mental health topics.

Next, Elizabeth appeared in the horror film Silent House, which also earned her good reviews. This movie was released in 2012. In the same year, she starred in the thriller Red Lights and the comedy Liberal Arts.

In January 2013, Elizabeth was nominated for the BAFTA Rising Star Award. Later that year, she played Edie Parker in the drama Kill Your Darlings. Edie Parker was the first wife of writer Jack Kerouac. Elizabeth also appeared in the American remake of the 2003 South Korean film Oldboy. She played Marie Sebastian, a nurse who helps the main character find his daughter. In 2013, she also played Juliet in an off-Broadway play of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. A critic from The New York Times said her performance was "alternating between saucy petulance and hysteria."

She played the main role in In Secret, a movie based on a book from 1867. This film came out in February 2014. Later that year, Elizabeth starred in the monster movie Godzilla. She acted alongside Bryan Cranston and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. The movie received good reviews and made a lot of money around the world. In the same year, she and Dakota Fanning played teenage girls in Brooklyn in the film Very Good Girls.

Marvel Cinematic Universe and Continued Success (2015–Present)

Elizabeth Olsen joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) in 2015. She starred in the superhero film Avengers: Age of Ultron, which was a sequel to The Avengers. In the movie, she played Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch. This was the first time the comic book character appeared in a film. She first showed up as the character in a short scene at the end of the 2014 film Captain America: The Winter Soldier. She was with Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who played Wanda's brother, Pietro. Elizabeth used an accent for her character that sounded like it came from a fictional country called Sokovia.

She continued to play Wanda Maximoff in other MCU movies. These include Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019). Avengers: Endgame became one of the highest-grossing films of all time. Through this role, Elizabeth Olsen became very famous.

In 2015, Elizabeth played Audrey Williams in the movie I Saw the Light. Audrey was the wife and manager of singer Hank Williams. In 2017, Elizabeth starred as a new FBI agent in the mystery film Wind River. She also played a social media influencer in the comedy-drama film Ingrid Goes West. Both movies were released in August and received good reviews. A critic from Rolling Stone said Elizabeth gave a "major eye-opener of a performance" in Ingrid Goes West. The next year, she appeared in the Netflix film Kodachrome. She played a caregiver to a photographer.

Elizabeth also helped produce and starred in the web TV series Sorry for Your Loss. She played a young widow named Leigh Shaw. The series started in September 2018. Critics liked the series, and Elizabeth's acting was praised as "stunning" and "disciplined and sharp." She was nominated for a Critics' Choice Television Award for her performance. The show ended in January 2020 after two seasons.

Olsen at the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con

Elizabeth Olsen played Wanda Maximoff again in the superhero miniseries WandaVision. She starred alongside Paul Bettany as Vision. The series premiered on Disney+ in January 2021. Critics praised Elizabeth and Paul's chemistry. They also said Elizabeth was brilliant in her role. Elizabeth was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for her performance. She returned as Wanda in the movie Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which was released in May 2022. Her acting in this movie also received praise.

In 2023, Elizabeth Olsen starred as housewife Candy Montgomery in Love and Death. This was an HBO Max series about a real-life event in Texas in the 1980s. Her performance earned her another nomination for a Golden Globe Award. After this series, Elizabeth starred in the drama film His Three Daughters and the science fiction thriller The Assessment.

Elizabeth is expected to appear in the romantic comedy Eternity, which has already been filmed. She will also voice a version of Wanda in Marvel's animated series Marvel Zombies.

In 2025, it was reported that Elizabeth Olsen would reunite with director Sean Durkin for a new drama series called Seven Sisters. Durkin previously directed her in Martha Marcy May Marlene.

Personal Life

Elizabeth Olsen has said that actress Diane Keaton has been a big influence on her acting and personal life. Diane Keaton helped Elizabeth learn to be "the kind of woman I wanted to be." Her older sisters, Mary-Kate and Ashley, have also given her career advice. At one point, Elizabeth thought about changing her name to her middle name, Chase. She wanted to be known for her own talent, not just for being her sisters' sibling.

Elizabeth has said she became an atheist at age 13. She believes "religion should be about community and having a place to go in prayer, not something that should determine women's freedoms." She once had a real estate license in New York. Elizabeth is also an ambassador for the company Bobbi Brown Cosmetics. She was in a relationship with actor Boyd Holbrook from 2011 to 2014.

Elizabeth Olsen got engaged to musician Robbie Arnett in July 2019 after dating for three years. Robbie Arnett is part of the American band Milo Greene. They secretly got married in 2019. Elizabeth and Robbie live in Los Angeles. Together, they have written children's books. Their books include Hattie Harmony: Worry Detective, released in June 2022, and Hattie Harmony: Opening Night, released in June 2023. Their own experiences with feeling worried helped them create these books.

Filmography

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2011	Martha Marcy May Marlene	Martha / Marcy May / Marlene Lewis
2012	Red Lights	Sally Owen
	Silent House	Sarah
	Peace, Love & Misunderstanding	Zoe
	Liberal Arts	Zibby
2013	Kill Your Darlings	Edie Parker
	Oldboy	Marie Sebastian / Mia Doucett
2014	In Secret	Thérèse Raquin
	Captain America: The Winter Soldier	Wanda Maximoff	Uncredited cameo
	Very Good Girls	Gerry Fields
	Godzilla	Elle Brody
2015	Avengers: Age of Ultron	Wanda Maximoff
	I Saw the Light	Audrey Williams
2016	Captain America: Civil War	Wanda Maximoff
2017	Ingrid Goes West	Taylor Sloane
	Wind River	Jane Banner
	Kodachrome	Zooey Kern
2018	Avengers: Infinity War	Wanda Maximoff
2019	Avengers: Endgame
2022	Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
2023	His Three Daughters	Christina	Also executive producer
2024	The Assessment	Mia
2025	Eternity	Joan	Post-production
TBA	Panic Carefully	TBA	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	How the West Was Fun	Girl in Car	Television film
2016	... History	Norma Kopp	Episode: "Siblings"
2017	HarmonQuest	Stirrip	Episode: "The Keystone Obelisk"
2018–2019	Sorry for Your Loss	Leigh Shaw	Main role; also executive producer
2021	WandaVision	Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch	Main role; 9 episodes
2021–2022	Marvel Studios: Assembled	Herself	2 episodes
2022	Saturday Night Live		Episode: "Benedict Cumberbatch/Arcade Fire"
2023	Love & Death	Candy Montgomery	Miniseries
	What If...?	Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch	Voice; 2 episodes
2025	Marvel Zombies		Voice, miniseries

Theatre

Awards and Nominations

See also

In Spanish: Elizabeth Olsen para niños