Elaine Carroll

Elaine Carroll is an American actress and writer. She is best known for her role as a fictionalized Mary-Kate Olsen on the web series Very Mary-Kate, which she created.

Life and career

Carroll was born in New York City, and she and her family moved to Richmond, Virginia at the age of five. She grew up loving all forms of the arts, and began doing plays in first grade when her class put on a production of The King and I. She is married to producer Sam Reich; the two met in 2000, when they were at summer camp.

"I decided I wanted to be an actor when I was seven and I never changed my mind," Carroll has stated.

In 2008, Carroll used an impression of the Olsen twins during an audition for Saturday Night Live. Carroll indicated that, "It went over really well," but "obviously I didn't get on the show." She continued to do the impression, and had been doing it for about two years before making a short video called "The Olsen Twin Minute" that "featured Mary-Kate and Ashley in a talk show." The experience led Carroll to realize she wanted to do more with the twin impression and "started trying to visualize what life is like for them. They're rich and famous, but also kind of mysterious and private, which leaves a ton of room for the imagination." Taking facts she already knew, such as Olsen's use of a bodyguard and taking classes at NYU, Carroll crafted a web series that "started filling in the blanks." In 2010, she began to star on Very Mary-Kate, a web series she also created and wrote. Very Mary-Kate is the "unofficial biography of everyone's favorite Olsen twin," Mary-Kate Olsen. The series follows Mary-Kate's daily adventures as Carroll portrays Olsen as a "character who's a weak-yet-demanding kitten obsessed with calories, abusing her bodyguard and getting her hands on the good drugs."

The series was originally produced out-of-pocket, but was picked up for its second season by CollegeHumor. The show was about Plum (Carroll), a child beauty pageant contestant whose mother takes her to shows and it deals with the misfortunes they faced on the way. The same year, Carroll was listed as one of Vulture's "50 Comedians You Should and Will Know" and one of Complexs "25 Funny People Who Should Get Their Own TV Show."

In 2015, she was cast as Harriet Eisele on The Astronaut Wives Club, an American period drama television series which premiered on June 18 of that year. ABC canceled the series after one season.

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes 2009 The CollegeHumor Show Samantha Season 1, episode 4-5: "Sarah's New Boyfriend" (as a bar lady) and "Hot Girl" 2010 Mad Men Janine Season 4, episode 3: "The Good News" 2010–13 Very Mary-Kate Mary-Kate Olsen 77 episodes; also creator and writer 2011 The Good Doctor New Nurse 2013 Husbands Parker Season 3, episode 4: "I Dream of Cleaning" 2013 The League Credit Card Lady Season 5, episode 11: "The Credit Card Alert" 2013 Precious Plum Plum 13 episodes; also co-creator and co-writer 2014 Modern Family Female Magician Season 5, episode 18: "Las Vegas" 2015 The Astronaut Wives Club Harriet Eisele Season 1, episodes 79 2015 Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Hayley Season 1, episode 9: "I'm Going to the Beach with Josh and His Friends!" 2018 Arrested Development Jen Season 5, episode 4: "An Old Start" 2018 See Plum Run Plum Miller Also co-creator and co-writer 2022 Out of Office Tennessee 2022 Make Some Noise Writer 2022 Breaking News Herself Season 3, episode 6; season 5, episode 2; season 6, episode 17 2023 Dirty Laundry Herself Season 2, episode 10: "Who Called in a Favor From a Sitting Governor?" 2024/2025 Game Changer Herself Season 6, episode 2: "The Newlyweb Game"Season 7, episode 10: "Outvoted"Season 7, episode 11: "Samalamadingdong" 2024 Gastronauts Herself Season 1, episode 3: "I Find That Very A-Peeling"