Entertainment

Olsen twins impress Full House creator with early acting talent

September 6, 2026 11:20 am

Source: Entertainment Weekly

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen got it at a very young age, dude.

In fact, Full House creator Jeff Franklin recently recalled an episode in the first season of the sitcom where the twin sisters, who were just a year old at the time, nailed their scene.

In season 1 episode 25, Uncle Jesse (John Stamos) gets a gig as an Elvis impersonator while Uncle Joey (Dave Coulier) cashes out an old $5,000 savings bond, spreading the wealth with the entire Tanner family. Franklin recalled that it was one of the first episodes where the Olsen twins had a prolonged scene.

“If you go back and watch it, that was the show where — and I think it was Ashley — it went to entirely another level,” Franklin told PEOPLE in an interview published on Thursday. “For the first time, we had an Olsen twin playing a scene that went on for minutes, and they hit all their cues, played the scene, never looked at the camera, never looked up at the boom, never looked at the audience, stayed in character, hit every joke.”

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“I’ll just never forget it,” Franklin continued. “It was just miraculous. How is this possible? In what universe does this little one-year-old person have the audience in the palm of her hand and is hitting jokes? It was just jaw-dropping.”

“I’m sure Adria [Later] made it fair,” Andrea Barber, who played Kimmy, said on a recent episode of How Rude, Tanneritos, referencing the on-set teacher who was dubbed “the Michelle(s) wrangler.”

Barber continued, adding, “I’m sure there was something equivalent that she offered the other twin that didn’t ride in the float. I don’t know how they decide who gets to go… who’s behaving well that day?”

“I don’t have to be a pretty face,” Ashley told Elle in March 2012. “I’ve done that, but now it’s important and liberating to be on the other side of the lens. I don’t like to be the center of attention anymore.”