Celebrity Spotlight & Birthdays

In the spotlight: The Olsen Twins-preternatural cute

Somewhere, a cosmic force chuckles.

The Olsen sisters, the perfect posterkids for twins, were born under the sign of Gemini, as if they emerged fresh from an astrology advertisement. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen came into this world two minutes apart, a mere 120 seconds, on Friday, June 13, 1986.

It's been over a decade now since they first winnowed their way into our soppy American hearts, these pint-size charmers in their jammies.

Cute, yes. Adorable even. Maybe even too darned adorable.

Don't forget that they're guilty of deceiving us all - guilty of perpetrating perhaps the greatest fraud ever unleashed upon American people since we learned that Mr. Ed was incapable of speech. There were, in fact, two Michelles on "Full House."

The twin's voyage into cuteness started when they were only 9 months old, when their mother, Jarnette, was convinced by a friend that her adorable daughters would be perfect for the single role of "Michelle" in the hit sitcom "Full House."

It was as if cloning had been achieved a decade before Dolly the sheep. The Olsen twins have since become America's yin and yang, a saccharine duo who represented cooing childhood to a nation enamoured of youth.

But adolescence - with all it's acne and angst - awaits. They both turn 11 on June 13. It will again be a Friday the 13th.

From all accounts, the precocious twins act just like any other pre-teen girls: They're shy around strangers, giggly, and like ice cream and ponies. But there's one big difference. They've signed TV, recording and music- video deals worth, at last count, at least $10 million.

The munchkin-sized performers, who struck it rich for eight seasons on ABC's "Full House," have formed their own production company backed by Warner Bros., have been promised their own series, "Double Trouble," and have headlined several made-for-TV movies.

The twins also have put out 21 books and have their own video series consisting of 14 half hour films. They've starred in four feature films, including It Takes Two, which hit the big screens two years ago. They've also released three albums of children's songs and a half-hour music video collection.

They are like a Doublemint and run amok. "They're my pseudo-children," the comedian Bob Sagat, their co-star on the PG-TV "Full House" series, once said.

Pseudo, indeed.