Like her older sisters, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Elizabeth Olsen began acting at an early age, and now she’s one of Hollywood’s most well-known stars thanks to her time as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, among other notable projects. But as the younger of the Olsen sisters, Elizabeth had the benefit of a ket piece of advice from Mary-Kate and Ashley at the start of her career that has guided her over the years: it’s ok to say no to things, and she’s applied this wisdom to one specific gig.
Elizabeth Olsen can currently be seen back in action as Scarlet Witch in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, with the actress only learning she’d be taking part in the sequel right before going back to shoot the rest of WandaVision. In any case, she’s been making the press rounds for the Doctor Strange sequel, and while speaking with The Independent, the outlet noted how Olsen has the “pleasant demeanor” of someone “clearly at ease” with the professional and personal rules she’s established for herself, including the following tidbit she got from Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen:
‘No’ is a full sentence.
Although Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen retired from acting in 2012 to build a fashion empire together, they got an even earlier start with acting then their sister, having been infants when they started playing Michelle Tanner on Full House. As such, when Elizabeth Olsen started acting on a professional level in the early 2010s after pursuing higher education, her older sisters helped her realize early on that she’s not obligated to accept everything that comes her way. In fact, Olsen has already applied this mantra to one specific job in the Hollywood space: presenting at awards shows. As she explained:
I don’t like presenting at awards shows. I tried and I don’t like it. It is not worth the feeling of passing out that I get, like, every time. It’s just not worth it.
So if you ever see Elizabeth Olsen onstage at awards ceremonies like the Oscars or the Emmys, it’ll be because she’s accepting one of those trophies rather than presenting them. Olsen also mentioned during her interview that she applied the advice of saying “No” differently when she was younger, specifically having used it “more as a young female who was always ready for some sort of aggressor or something.” She then acknowledged that she could have “massaged things a bit differently” or maybe “have had some nuance,” but she still thinks this piece of wisdom is “an important thing for a young woman to know, or hear, or empower themselves with.”
Along with her MCU outings, Elizabeth Olsen’s notable credits include the Oldboy remake, 2014’s Godzilla, I Saw the Light, Ingrid Goes West, Wind River and Sorry for Your Loss, the latter of which she both starred in and executive produced for Facebook Watch over its two-season run. Later this year, she’ll be seen in the HBO Max miniseries Love and Death, which follows the real life story of Wylie, Texas housewife Candy Montgomery (Olsen) murdering her friend Betty Gore (Lily Rabe) with an axe in 1980. As far as her Scarlet Witch run goes, Olsen isn’t sure what the future holds in store for her character, although she did perk up with CinemaBlend’s own Eric Eisenberg brought up how the X-Men’s forthcoming arrival in the MCU could potentially take Wanda Maximoff in new directions.
For now, you can see Scarlet Witch wielding her Chaos Magic in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which is playing exclusively in theaters. Be sure to read CinemaBlend’s review of the sequel, and after doing that, learn what upcoming Marvel movies are on the horizon.
