Elizabeth Olsen on Rejecting the Ingenue Label and Thriving in Uncomfortable Roles

Elizabeth Olsen has never been interested in playing Hollywood’s idea of the “ingenue.” While the label — meaning a naive young woman, often innocent to the point of vulnerability — has been a cinematic staple since the days of Audrey Hepburn and Judy Garland, Olsen says it’s simply never fit her personality or presence.

“I couldn’t play like the high school girlfriend or whatever,” Olsen told The Times in a recent interview. “It just doesn’t fit with my personality. It’s not about making the choice, it’s just about what I actually put off in the world and therefore I just don’t get those jobs.”

Carving Her Own Path

As the younger sister of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen — former teen icons who once dominated pop culture — Olsen grew up with a unique mix of opportunity and scrutiny. Early in her career, she even considered changing her name to avoid constant comparisons.

Her breakthrough came in 2011 with Martha Marcy May Marlene, in which she delivered a haunting performance as a damaged ex-cult member. That role set the tone for her career: intense, complex characters who rarely fit into neat categories. By 2016, she entered the mainstream as Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe — a character whose arc blurred the lines between hero and antihero.

When asked if she’s in her “antihero era,” Olsen laughed and referenced her love of Taylor Swift: “I feel like I’ll forever be in that. I don’t know if I ever want to play the hero.”

Finding Comfort in Discomfort

Transitioning from intimate indie sets to blockbuster-scale productions presented new challenges. Olsen recalls how working with large numbers of background actors initially made her feel “exposed” and “like a liar.” It wasn’t until Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla (2014) that she adjusted to the demands of massive productions, with their hundreds of extras and high-stakes action sequences.

“With those kinds of budgets, you end up having to be around hundreds of people you don’t know and interact with in this make-believe world,” she explained. “It makes you feel a little stupid sometimes… I remember feeling so much pressure and so self-conscious. That was something I had to get over.”

From Wanda to Oscar Buzz

Olsen’s career now spans a striking range — from indie dramas to CGI-heavy Marvel spectacles — but she continues to choose projects that challenge her. Her latest, His Three Daughters, sees her not only starring alongside Carrie Coon and Natasha Lyonne, but also serving as an executive producer. The family drama, which follows three sisters reuniting as their father enters end-of-life care, is already generating Oscar buzz.

Her last outing as Wanda came in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness (2022), a film that left her character’s future open-ended. Whether or not she returns to the MCU, Olsen seems determined to avoid comfortable typecasting, preferring instead to stay in roles that keep her just slightly on edge.

In her own words: “I just don’t know how to be an ingenue.” For Olsen, that’s not a limitation — it’s a career-defining strength.