America fell in love with the Tanner family on ABC’s Full House back in the late ‘80s, and the show’s run in syndication attracted and kept even more fans of multiple generations. Of course we loved dorky dad Danny Tanner, the odd-couple uncles Joey and Jesse who were helping him raise his daughters, and sassy sisters DJ and Stephanie. But Full House just wouldn’t have been the same without Michelle, who was played by 9-month-old twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Creator Jeff Franklin recalled the “bizarre” process of casting the youngest Tanner sister, and it sounds like the Olsen twins won the part pretty quickly!
In case that little factoid didn’t quite sink in, Ashley and Mary-Kate (who turned 37 in June) were just 6 months old when they auditioned and won the part of Michelle Tanner — a role they continued to play for the duration of Full House’s eight-season run. Jeff Franklin spoke with Dave Coulier on the Full House Rewind podcast about what goes into casting characters that young, explaining:
There were about 16 sets of twins — 32 babies in a room. It was bizarre. It really was just a process of elimination, and how are they going to react? You know, if they’re freaking out, if they’re screaming for their mom, then you kind of think, ‘All right, this is not somebody that is going to really flourish on a soundstage.’ The end of about 40 minutes, I think it was the Olsen twins and one other set of twins. We were on the ground, you know, trying to figure out who to go with. And they were great with strange people. They were having a blast. And you know, those faces were just amazing.
Being “great with strange people” is actually a really great qualification to put on a resume, don’t you think?
The scenario that Jeff Franklin described does sound pretty wild, and in less than an hour, the twins' entire lives were changed forever (though for the crew who had to spend 40 minutes in a room with 32 screaming babies, it probably felt like an eternity).
Michelle Tanner would go on to win over the hearts of America with adorable catchphrases like, “You got it, dude,” and “You’re in big trouble, mister.” I seriously can’t get over that decision being made in under an hour. How did they know the Olsen twins would be such natural actors?
Unfortunately it wasn’t smooth sailing in the very beginning, as John Stamos, who played their Uncle Jesse, confirmed that while filming the pilot he actually got the Olsen twins fired, but he ended up asking for them back a few days later, and THEN, the rest was history. Mary-Kate and Ashley went on to do their own thing post-Full House, but ultimately retired from acting at the ripe old age of 25.
When Candace Cameron Bure and most of the original cast reunited for the spinoff Fuller House in 2016, the Olsen twins opted not to join them. While this made John Stamos angry, the rest of the TV family seemed to understand, and Jodie Sweetin explained in the best way why their decision actually made perfect sense.
You can still see the Olsen twins literally grow up in front of your eyes, as all eight seasons of Full House are available to stream with a Max subscription or Hulu subscription. Be sure to also check out our 2023 TV schedule to stay up to date on the upcoming premieres.
