She began her acting career at the age of nine months, sharing the role of Michelle Tanner with her twin sister Mary-Kate Olsen in the television sitcom Full House (1987–1995).

In 1993, the production company Dualstar Entertainment Group was founded, which produced a long string of TV movies and direct-to-video releases featuring the girls; they starred in Passport to Paris (1999), Our Lips Are Sealed (2000), Winning London (2001), Holiday in the Sun (2001) and in the television series So Little Time (2001–2002).

In March 2012, both Mary-Kate and Ashley officially indicated their interest to retire as actresses in order to focus on their careers in the fashion industry.

[7] She began her acting career at the age of nine months when she and Mary-Kate were hired to share the role of Michelle Tanner on the popular television sitcom Full House (1987–1995).

In the 1990s, associates of Olsen and her twin sister, recognizing their marketing potential, built a production company around them called Dualstar Entertainment Group, which produced a long string of successful TV movies and direct-to-video releases featuring the girls.

They starred in Passport to Paris (1999), Switching Goals (1999), Our Lips Are Sealed (2000), Winning London (2001), Holiday in the Sun (2001) and the television series, So Little Time (2001–2002).

She and her twin sister became household names and popular figures in the preteen market during the late 1990s and early 2000s, with their likeness seen in clothes, books, fragrances, magazines, movies, and posters, among others.

In 2004, Olsen stepped away from full-time acting, though she made minor appearances in the films The Jerk Theory (2009) and I'm Still Here (2010), as well as the 2013 music video for "City of Angels" by Thirty Seconds to Mars.

In May of that year, Mary-Kate and Ashley announced that they would not reprise their role as Michelle Tanner; however, two months later in July, according to Netflix's Ted Sarandos, the Olsen twins were "teetering" on an agreement to join the series.

[18][19] The twins eventually declined to join the cast of Fuller House, with Ashley saying she would not feel comfortable in front of the camera after a 12-year absence from acting and Mary-Kate saying the timing was bad.

In 2007, Forbes ranked the twins as the eleventh-richest women in entertainment, with an estimated combined net worth of $100 million.

[25] In 2004, they made news by signing a pledge to allow all the workers that sew their line of clothing in Bangladesh full maternity leave.

[27] She tested the design on a variety of women of all body shapes and ages in an attempt to find a "commonality in fit and attitude.

"[28] By 2006, the sisters had created a 7-piece collection that included the T-shirt, a pair of cotton sateen leggings, and a cashmere wool tank dress.

[37] The twins designed a limited edition Olsenboye change purse in August 2011 to raise money for Pennies From Heaven, an organization that donates to after-school programs.

[44][45][46] In February 2005, Olsen filed a $40 million lawsuit against tabloid magazine National Enquirer for depicting her as being involved in a drug scandal.

[citation needed] In 2001, Olsen began dating Columbia University quarterback Matt Kaplan, whom she met while attending high school.