Sundance Breakout Star Elizabeth Olsen Talks Child Actors
Sundance Breakout Star Elizabeth Olsen – Around this time very last year,Elizabeth Olsen was known—if she was know at all—as the younger sister of Mary-Kate & Ashley
. She was enrolled in NYU’s theatre program & had been auditioning for Broadway & Off-Broadway plays. But she did made the conscious decision to avoid the career arc—filled with Hollywood highs & tabloid lows—of her sisters.Only last January did she begin actively seeking out movie work. Now here she is at the Sundance Film Festival, about to achieve breakout status based on her two new films, “Silent House” & “Martha Marcy May Marlene.” It is been a long time coming for the 21-year-old, but it was worth the wait if it meant not being exposed to the same spotlight that Mary-Kate & Ashley were as pre-teen stars.
“I think that is why I waited such a long time until I was comfortable as a person to start working professionally,”Elizabeth told MTV News. “It’s been what I wanted to do since I was seven or eight but I never wanted to be a child actor. I never wanted to be a brand. I want to be an actor. I feel good in my own skin. I just want to make movies & do theater.”
So what is the key to avoiding getting sucked into the celebrity spotlight? Well, not thinking of you in those terms,Elizabeth Olsen explained.
“I think it is just staying grounded. It is not something I think about. I think it is something media puts upon people,” she said. “I don’t think it’s something that people healthily think about, like, ‘Now I’m a celebrity!’ I don’t think people should think like that. I hope that whatever press comes about from Sundance will further the films’ hope for getting distribution.”
