Since her incursion into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Elizabeth Olsen has been used to be under the spotlight. Not only because of her work in most of Marvel’s movies but because of her character Wanda Maximoff a.k.a the Scarlet Witch has its own tv series and is considered one of the strongest female characters in superhero stories.
However, Elizabeth Olsen was not always on top, but in the shadow of her sisters, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, who at only four years old, conquered the world in the late 80′s sitcom ‘Full House’.
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Lizzie, as Elizabeth Olsen is known by her closest circle, was born on February 16, 1989, and despite carrying in her blood the desire to act, she thought about giving up her dream of being overshadowed by her famous older sisters.
She did not want to be known as “the sister of…” but on her own merits, so during her teenage years she chose to look for other paths, which led her to play volleyball in high school at the age of 14; her attempt to forget about acting did not work.
Elizabeth Olsen and her beginnings in acting
Elizabeth Olsen decided to follow her dreams and began participating in castings under the name Elizabeth Chase; however, once again the influence of her sisters in the industry would become an obstacle.
In 2004, Mary-Kate Olsen was in the eye of the storm after being admitted to a clinic for anorexia, an episode that put the intimacy of the family in the media spotlight and which led Elizabeth Olsen to think about whether she really wanted to be part of the industry.
Although at only four years old she participated in some of her sisters’ productions and even auditioned for the movie “Spy Kids”, her first important role came with Martha in the 2011 film ‘Martha Marcy May Malerle’, which received good critical acclaim and whose main plot was focused on mental illness.
The rest is history. As roles came into her life they demonstrated her versatility in independent cinema, dabbling from horror to comedy. ‘Red Lights’, ‘Silent House’, ‘Peace, Love & Misunderstanding’, and ‘Liberal Arts’ were her 2012 films.
In 2013 she worked in ‘Kill Your Darlings’ and ‘Oldboy’, to start 2014 with ‘In Secret’ and then take the most important step in her career: her foray into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Elizabeth Olsen became Wanda Maximoff
After appearing in several independent films with good reviews from film festivals, and her sisters Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen decided to leave acting aside and pursue careers as fashion designers, Elizabeth Olsen’s big break came: Bringing Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch to life.
Her first appearance as Wanda Maximoff was during one of the post-credits scenes of 2014′s ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’, the same year in which she was also part of ‘Godzilla’, another of the most relevant productions of her career.
In 2015 was her big appearance in ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ and from that moment on, Elizabeth Olsen’s name was enshrined in the MCU and Hollywood in general. She was one of the most important anti-heroes in the comics, daughter of Magneto and sister of Quicksilver.
Playing Wanda Maximoff was a turning point in Elizabeth Olsen’s career, as she herself confessed that she prepared herself arduously to the point of practicing dance in order to achieve stylized movements for the battle scenes.
Then came her appearance in ‘Captain America: Civil War’, ‘Avengers: Infinity War’, as well as ‘Avengers: Endgame’, the starring role in the series ‘WandaVision’ and her major role in ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’.
Wanda Maximoff has been a challenge for Elizabeth Olsen, and that is that after losing her brother Pietro (Quicksilver) and the love of her life, Vision, there was a void that was compounded by not really knowing her power.
“Faced with the void left by losing him (Vision), she created the fantasy of her children, which was something she needed. That was always her dream: to create the family she had lost. I think this whole process was very much linked to my growth as an actress, but not so much to my personal life,” she said about her character to the Argentinian newspaper La Nación.
Elizabeth Olsen has managed to maintain a good balance between her professional and personal life, she is currently married to musician Robbie Arnett and has preferred to keep her intimate life from the spotlight to the point of not having an Instagram account.
Her performance in the new installment of ‘Dr. Strange’ has corroborated her acting potential and delighted MCU fans.
Story originally published in Cultura Colectiva in Spanish
