Even though Mary-Kate Olsen was dedicated to fashion, it took her a few years to leave the acting world behind. In fact, she continued appearing in projects by herself after "New York Minute," her last film with her twin sister, Ashley Olsen, was released in 2004. As she told Marie Claire in 2010, "I still read scripts, and if something comes [along], that's great. But [The Row] is my day job."

This was the first time she had worked as an actress without her sister — and it turns out, she had quite a talent for it, as several of her colleagues explained to Elle. In the 2008 film "The Wackness," for instance, her co-star Ben Kingsley said she was "an utter professional," adding, "There was a liquidlike quality to her character that Mary-Kate innately has as well." She also appeared in the show "Weeds." Creator Jenji Kohan said, "This was not stunt casting. ... Mary-Kate was simply the best person for the role." 

However, after appearing in "Beastly" in 2011, Mary-Kate gave up acting for good. As she explained to Allure, she was too much of a perfectionist and hated "not being able to control the end product."