I recently saw a YouTube video about the Olsen twins. Nice video,
but the guy who did it clearly doesn’t know much about twins.
You see, this guy insisted that they were NOT identical,
because 1) they are not exactly the same height, and 2) because one of the two
is a lefty!
Newsflash!
Identical twins can be as much as one whole inch different
in height. And guess how far apart they are. 😊
And, as we’ve stated several times on this blog, mirror twins are often
determined because one is a lefty.
In other words, Mary-Kate and Ashely Olsen are MIRROR TWINS!
Now for those of you who don’t know (including the guy who
did the video I saw), all mirror twins are identical, but not all identical
twins are mirror twins.
Additionally, fraternal twins can not be mirror twins
because fraternal twins are no more alike than any two offspring of the same
parents are. Fraternal twins occur when two ova are released at the same time,
and both get fertilized.
Identical twins happen when the already fertilized egg
splits in two. And sometimes, they produce babies that are mirror opposites of each
other. Hence the name mirror twins.
And I know about that one-inch difference part because I
looked it up while I was still in high school. It upset me to no end that
Konnie and I weren’t identical because I am an inch and a quarter taller than
her, then Konnie reminded me she lost height when she injured her back when we
were eight.
Just to recap, this past week I learned that the Olsen
twins, who I have watched grow up since the very first episode of Full House. Please
note, we are talking Full House, not Fuller House.
First, I don’t have cable, and second, I am that old.
I, in fact, remember being certain that while the credits
that the first season listed her as being Mary-Kate Ashely Olsen, I was positive
that there should be an “And” somewhere in there. Mostly because I knew that
Hollywood tended to use twins for their youngest characters, hence Sidney and
Lindsay Greenbush played Carrie Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie from infancy
until they were about six or seven when they switched to just using one of
them. Sorry, I forget which one, but I do know they did at first use both of
them. I remember when they changed the credits to just one of them playing the
part.
Yeah, I keep dating myself.
At any rate, well before Full House aired, I knew that
Hollywood tended to use twins for infant characters, so I was positive that the
baby on Full House was actually twins.
When they finally added that little “and” between Kate and
Ashely, it just confirmed what I knew all along.
I watched a bunch of their movies too.
And I still wonder why they didn’t use the Olsen twins when
they did the remake of Parent Trap.
Yeah, I know they didn’t use twins for the roles in the original
version, but why didn’t they use twins for the remake?
Though it was probably because of some Hollywood red tape or
something, like when they hadn’t been able to get Shirley Temple to play Dorothy
in the Wizard of Oz all those decades ago and ended up using an actress who was
considerably older than Dorothy was supposed to be. The studio doing the
filming had Judy Garland under contract but not Shirley Temple.
I just find it strange to find out all these years later that
the Olsen twins are as much mirror twins as Konnie and I are. All those movies
we watched; that whole series we watched, and we never knew.
Then again, I didn’t learn Conrad Bain had a twin until
after “Different Strokes” was no longer on the air, and he mentioned his twin
brother in an interview.
Of course, I also didn’t learn that Ashton Kutcher had a
twin until I recently saw a TV clip about his twin brother.
And then there is Eric Christian Olsen from NCIS LA, whose
twin brother has the role of his stunt double on set, and the real-life husband
of Eric’s co-star Daniela Ruah, as in the actress who plays Kensi Blye on NCIS
LA.
Yeah, that’s right folks, Daniela plays the love interest of
Eric’s character, Marty Deeks, and her husband is Eric’s twin and stunt double!
I actually find it interesting that Eric got Daniela and
David together because they were both seeking someone, and he thought they’d
get along great. (Eric, himself, was already married.)
So, I guess there are a lot of twins in Hollywood.
Can you name some I haven’t?
Anyway, happy writing everyone!
