Olsen Twins: Together Forever

Ashley, half of the acting, dancing, soccer-playing Olsen twins, is trying to conduct a civilized interview. But her sister, Mary-Kate, is having none of it.

"I'm so sorry," Ashley laughs into the telephone, "but my sister won't stop making faces. Cut it out!"

A burst of giggled apologies comes through the receiver. But no one can blame the world's busiest teens for having a little fun. These 13-year-olds have been in the limelight since they were nine months old and appearing, in shifts, as the same character on ABC's "Full House." The show went off the air after eight seasons, leaving the twins free to work on other projects.

And work they have. The twins have kept busy shooting dozens of videos, helping design their own Mattel dolls, dancing for a CD-ROM, creating a Nintendo Game Boy game and singing on a music CD. And don't forget the homework the eighth graders bring home each night. Oh, and the horseback riding and soccer teams. And the Web site.

Right now they're promoting a new Warner Home Video straight-to-video release, "Switching Goals" due out on April 11. The movie is about twins who play soccer on opposing teams, leading to the usual mistaken identity plot and humor.

"Yeah, we're busy," says Ashley, the spokestwin by default, since Mary-Kate is occupied with facial contortions. "But we're having a good time and doing a lot of neat stuff."

Yes, going to Paris, Australia and Hawaii would probably qualify as neat stuff in anyone's book. Especially if there's shopping.

"It's fun, getting to see all the cool new clothes in places like Paris," says Ashley. "But our favorite shoots have been in Rome and Hawaii, which were both beautiful."

And do the twins ever feel like they are missing out on real life? Nope. "We really do have an advantage over other kids," says Mary-Kate, in her only appearance on the phone. "We've experienced more than other kids, working how we have."

So they're not leading a normal life, and yet everyone under a certain age, say 12, loves these girls. Why? "I think people relate to us because we both have different personalities," says Ashley, back in charge after her sister's rare burst of conversation. That people expect twins to act exactly the same goes unsaid.

Does it help that the girls do normal "girl stuff" like fix their hair and paint their nails draws in the female audience, and boys think they're cute?

This comment embarrasses the twins, who mumble around about "boys" and "cute" and "stuff" for a little while. It seems the twins are in regular-girl land again on this topic.

So, now that their names have been established as a franchise, are the twins thinking about (gasp) separation? "We aren't considering working alone any time soon," says Ashley. "Maybe sometime in the future, but not now."

Whew!