Elizabeth Olsen

**Elizabeth Chase Olsen** (born February 16, 1989) is an American actress. She was born in Los Angeles, California. She is the younger sister of the actresses Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. She had her debut film role in the thriller _Martha Marcy May Marlene_ in 2011, for which she was acclaimed and nominated for a Critics' Choice Movie Award. Olsen received a BAFTA Rising Star Award nomination and graduated from New York University two years later.

She is most known for her role as Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch in the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies _Avengers: Age of Ultron_ (2015), _Captain America: Civil War_ (2016), _Avengers: Infinity War_ (2018), and _Avengers: Endgame_ (2019) and in the movie _Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness_ (2022).. She then reprised her role in the Disney+ miniseries _WandaVision_ (2021) and the second season of _What If...?_ (2023).

Outside of her work with Marvel, Olsen starred in the monster movie _Godzilla_ (2014), the mystery movie _Wind River_ (2017), and the dramedy _Ingrid Goes West_ (2017). She executive produced and starred as a widow in the drama series _Sorry for Your Loss_ (2018–2019), earning a nomination for a Critics' Choice Television Award. Olsen has since portrayed Candy Montgomery in the miniseries _Love & Death_ (2023), for which she has been nominated for another Golden Globe Award.

## Early life and education

Elizabeth Chase Olsen was born on February 16, 1989, in Sherman Oaks, California. Her mother, Jarnie, is a former dancer, while her father, Dave, is a real estate agent. She is the younger sister of twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, who became television and film actresses as children. Olsen also has an older brother, a younger half-brother, and a younger half-sister. Her parents divorced in 1996.
Olsen began acting when she was four years old, appearing in Mary-Kate and Ashley's projects, including the 1994 television film _How the West Was Fun_ and the straight-to-video series _The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley_. As a child, she took acting classes and spent time at musical theatre camp. Olsen nearly quit pursuing acting in 2004 due to the media attention toward Mary-Kate's eating disorder. She went to Campbell Hall School in Studio City, California. Olsen attended New York University (NYU)'s Tisch School of the Arts, during which she took classes at Atlantic Theater Company and spent a semester at the Moscow Art Theatre School in Russia. She attained understudy roles in the 2008 off-Broadway production of the play _Dust_ and the 2009 Broadway production of the play _Impressionism_, which led to her securing an agent. Olsen graduated from NYU in January 2013.

### Early roles and acclaim (2011–2014)

Olsen made her film debut in the 2011 thriller film _Martha Marcy May Marlene_. The film, along with her performance, received critical acclaim following its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. Olsen earned several award nominations for her portrayal of the titular Martha, a young woman suffering from delusions after fleeing her life in a cult and returning to her family, including those for the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actress and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead. She attributed her interest in the character to her own fascination with mental illnesses. Olsen next appeared in the horror film _Silent House_, which garnered her "rave reviews". Despite premiering at the Sundance Film Festival alongside _Martha Marcy May Marlene_, it was released in 2012, during which she also starred in the thriller _Red Lights_ and the comedy _Liberal Arts_.

In January 2013, Olsen garnered a nomination for the BAFTA Rising Star Award at the 66th British Academy Film Awards. She played Edie Parker, novelist Jack Kerouac's first wife and the author of the Beat Generation memoir _You'll Be Okay_, in the biographical drama _Kill Your Darlings_. She appeared in the American remake of the 2003 South Korean film _Oldboy_, playing Marie Sebastian, a nurse who helps the protagonist, played by Josh Brolin, find his daughter. That same year, she starred as the titular Juliet in an off-Broadway production of the play _Romeo and Juliet_ by William Shakespeare. _The New York Times_ critic Ben Brantley described her portrayal as "an open book, and a slim volume, alternating between saucy petulance and hysteria". She played the leading role in _In Secret_, a film adaptation of Émile Zola's 1867 novel _Thérèse Raquin_. The film was released in February 2014. Later that year, Olsen starred in the monster film _Godzilla_, opposite Bryan Cranston and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, which received positive reviews and grossed $529 million against a $160 million production budget. She and Dakota Fanning co-starred as teenage girls in Brooklyn in the film _Very Good Girls_, released that same year, which Josh Duboff of _Vanity Fair_ characterized as unfavorably reviewed.

### Marvel Cinematic Universe and continued success (2015–present)

Olsen starred in the 2015 superhero film _Avengers: Age of Ultron_, a sequel to _The Avengers_, joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe media franchise and rising to fame. In the film, she portrayed Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch, which marked the comic book character's film debut. She first appeared as the character in a post-credits scene of the 2014 film _Captain America: The Winter Soldier_, alongside Taylor-Johnson, who portrayed Scarlet Witch's brother, Pietro Maximoff / Quicksilver. Olsen played the part with an accent originating from a fictional country called Sokovia, which she described as similar to Slovakian. She reprised the role in _Captain America: Civil War_ (2016), _Avengers: Infinity War_ (2018), and _Avengers: Endgame_ (2019), the last of which became the second highest-grossing film of all time.

Olsen portrayed Audrey Williams, the wife, manager, and duet partner of singer Hank Williams, portrayed by Tom Hiddleston, in the 2015 biographical film _I Saw the Light_, directed by Marc Abraham. In 2017, she starred as a novice FBI agent in the mystery film _Wind River_ and a social media influencer in the comedy-drama film _Ingrid Goes West_, both of which were released in August to critical praise. _Vulture_<nowiki/>'s David Edelstein found Olsen's "incongruously high-schoolish demeanor" in _Wind River_ problematic, while Peter Travers of _Rolling Stone_ wrote that she gave a "major eye-opener of a performance" in _Ingrid Goes West_, deeming it "toxic perfection". The following year, she appeared in the Netflix film _Kodachrome_, playing a caregiver to a photographer, played by Ed Harris. Olsen executive produced and starred as a young widow named Leigh Shaw in the Facebook Watch web television series _Sorry for Your Loss_, which premiered in September 2018. She said the three years it took to develop the series enabled her to immerse herself in Shaw's impulses. Critics reviewed the series positively, and Olsen's performance, which earned her a nomination for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series, was noted as "stunning", "disciplined and sharp", as well as "slyly sympathetic". The series was canceled in January 2020 after two seasons.

Alongside Paul Bettany as Vision, Olsen played Scarlet Witch again in the superhero miniseries _WandaVision_, which premiered on Disney+ in January 2021. In addition to complimenting Olsen and Bettany's chemistry, critics praised the cast, with _Vox_<nowiki/>'s Alex Abad-Santos writing Olsen was brilliant in her portrayal and Linda Holmes of NPR highlighting her "indelible central performance" in their respective reviews. Olsen earned a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie and Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film for her performance. She reprised the role in the film _Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness_, which was released in May 2022. In 2023, she portrayed Candy Montgomery in _Love and Death_, an HBO Max limited series about a 1980 Texas murder. Following the series, Olsen then starred in Azazel Jacobs’ _His Three Daughters_. She is scheduled to star in the sci-fi drama movie _The Assessment_, David Freyne's romantic comedy _Eternity_, and Todd Solondz's movie _Love Child_.

## Personal life

Olsen has been an atheist since the age of 13 because she believed that "religion should be about community and having a place to go in prayer, not something that should determine women's freedoms." She is an ambassador for the company Bobbi Brown Cosmetics. She and actor Boyd Holbrook were in a relationship from 2011 to 2014. Olsen became engaged to musician Robbie Arnett, of the American band Milo Greene, in July 2019 after three years of dating but after a year of marriage they got a divorce and ended up with one of her good friends who do not know the name off but have the initials AM. Olsen revealed in June 2021 that the two had married. In her first public relationship she also had a secret affair with a woman with the initials VB.

Together, they co-wrote the children's books _Hattie Harmony: Worry Detective_, released in June 2022, and _Hattie Harmony: Opening Night_, released in June 2023. Olsen and Arnett's experiences with anxiety inspired the books' creations.

### Film

|Year|Title|Role|Notes||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|2011|_Martha Marcy May Marlene_|Martha|||
|rowspan="4"|2012|_Red Lights_|Sally Owen||
|_Silent House_|Sarah||||
|_Peace, Love & Misunderstanding_|Zoe||||
|_Liberal Arts_|Zibby||||
|rowspan="2"|2013|_Kill Your Darlings_|Edie Parker||
|_Oldboy_|Marie Sebastian / Mia Doucett||||
|rowspan="4"|2014|_In Secret_|Thérèse Raquin||
|_Captain America: The Winter Soldier_|Wanda Maximoff|Uncredited; post-credits scene|||
|_Very Good Girls_|Gerry Fields||||
|_Godzilla_|Elle Brody||||
|rowspan="2"|2015|_Avengers: Age of Ultron_|Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch||
|_I Saw the Light_|Audrey Williams||||
|2016|_Captain America: Civil War_|Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch|||
|rowspan="2"|2017|_Ingrid Goes West_|Taylor Sloane||
|_Wind River_|Jane Banner||||
|rowspan="2"|2018|_Kodachrome_|Zooey Kern||
|_Avengers: Infinity War_|Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch||||
|2019|_Avengers: Endgame_|Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch|||
|2022|_Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness_|Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch|Post-production||
|2023|_His Three Daughters_|Christina|Also executive producer||
|2024|_The Assessment_|Mia|Post-production||
|TBA|_Eternity_|Joan|Post-production||

### Television

|Year|Title|Role|Notes||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1994|_How the West Was Fun_|Girl in Car|Television film||
|2016|_Drunk 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||
|2021-2022|_Marvel Studios: Assembled_|Herself|Episode: "Assembled: The Making of _WandaVision_"||
|2022|_Saturday Night Live_|Herself|Episode: "Benedict Cumberbatch/Arcade Fire"||
|rowspan="2"|2023|_Love and Death_|Candy Montgomery|Miniseries|
|_What If...?_|Wanda-Merlin Maximoff / Scarlet Witch|Voice; 2 episodes|||

### Theatre

|Year|Title|Role|Venue|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|_Romeo and Juliet_|Juliet|Classic Stage Company||

## Awards and nominations

|Year|Work|Award|Category|Result|Ref||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan="6"||rowspan="8"|_WandaVision_|Dorian Television Awards|Best TV Performance||style="text-align: center;"||
|Gold Derby Television Awards|Best Movie/Limited Series Actress||style="text-align:center"||||||
|Hollywood Television Critics Association|Best Actress in a Limited Series, Anthology Series, or Movie||style="text-align:center;"||||||
|Online Film and Television Association|Best Actress in a Motion Picture or Limited Series||style="text-align:center;"||||||
|Primetime Emmy Awards|Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie||style="text-align:center;"||||||
|Television Critics Association|Individual Achievement in Drama||style="text-align:center;"||||||
|rowspan="2"||Critics' Choice Television Awards|Best Actress in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television||style="text-align:center;"||||
|Golden Globe Awards|Best Actress in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television||style="text-align:center;"||||||

## Infobox (person)

- **name**: Elizabeth Olsen
- **image**: Elizabeth Olsen at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival 3 (cropped).jpg
- **caption**: Olsen at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival.
- **birth name**: Elizabeth Chase Olsen
- **birth place**: Sherman Oaks, California, USA
- **alma mater**: New York University
- **occupation**: Celebrity
- **years active**: 1993 - present
- **spouse**: Robbie Arnett
- **children**: 2