Larisa Oleynik

At 42 years old, Larisa Oleynik has this physical status:

Larisa Romanovna Oleynik (born June 7, 1981) is an American actress who rose to fame in the 1990s as a teenage idol.

Oleynik began her career as a child actress in Santa Clara, California, and "the proverbial girl next door."

She appeared in The Secret World of Alex Mack, a Nickelodeon sci-fi film from 1994 to 1998.

Dawn Schafer also started acting in a film version of The Baby-Sitters Club (1995), and in a lead role in the teen comedy 10 Things I Hate About You (1999). Oleynik continued to act in the comedy 100 Girls (1999), after which she appeared alongside Nastassja Kinski and Scarlett Johansson in the period film An American Rhapsody (2001) and the independent drama Bringing Rain (2003).

She appeared in Atlas Shrugged: Part II (2011) and Jessabelle (2014), where she appeared in supporting roles.

Cynthia Cosgrove appeared on AMC's Mad Men in 2010 and as Icy on the animated series Winx Club (2011–2015).

Early life and education

Larisa Romanovna Oleynik was born in Santa Clara, California, to Lorraine (née Allen), a former nurse and anesthesiologist Roman Oleynik. Her father was of Russian and Ukrainian origins, and she was raised in the Russian Orthodox faith. Oleynik was born in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1999, she graduated from the Pinewood School in Los Altos, California. "Divide her time between normal childhood experiences in Northern California and auditions in Los Angeles as her acting career progressed."

After her success as Alex Mack, Oleynik opted to attend college, enrolling at Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, New York, which she later described as "the right decision I've made."

Personal life

Oleynik lives in Venice, California.

In January 2013, she was issued a restraining order against a stalker who was so fixated on her that he changed his last name to "Oleynik."

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Career

After seeing an audition ad in a newspaper when she was eight years old, Oleynik began acting in Les Misérables in San Francisco in 1989. She appeared in two parts (young Cosette and young Eponine), both with singing roles. After appearing in the musical, she was introduced to an agent by her Les Misérables co-star Rider Strong, who started formal acting lessons. "I remember being ten years old and thinking, 'I want to be good at this," says the author. It wasn't about, 'I want to be on TV,' It was more worrying about the other kids and saying, "I'm not good at sports," I'm not really clever. "I think I could be a natural performer at this," says the author.

Her onscreen career began at the age of 12, in a 1993 episode of Doctor Quinn's Medicine Woman; the same year she appeared in the made-for-television film River of Rage: The Taking of Maggie Keene; and she appeared in the animated film The Swan Princess (1994).

She appeared in the lead role of the television series The Secret World of Alex Mack in 1993, where she portrayed a teen girl who receives telekinetic powers as a result of an accident. Alex Mack won the role over 400 others in the competition. The series aired on Nickelodeon from 1994 to 1998, becoming one of the network's top three most watched shows, becoming a fan among the child and teen audiences, as well as turning Oleynik into a teen idol. Children who saw Oleynik (and were too young to comprehend special effects) would often ask her to "morph" for them during the show's heyday. She would rather rather try to explain things, and then tell them, "Not here – everyone will see!" rather than explaining it. Oleynik reprised his role in an All That sketch, but the name was changed to "Alex Sax." She made an appearance in the 100th episode of the program later this year.

At the start of the episode "Dance Fever," she appeared on The Adventures of Pete & Pete as a nurse. Dawn Schafer, one of the lead characters in Alex Mack's 1995 film The Baby-Sitters Club (1995), opposite Rachael Leigh Cook and Schuyler Fisk, was also active in Nickelodeon's The Big Help charity, Hands Across Communication, Surfrider Foundation, and the Starlight Children's Foundation. In addition, she has hosted the CableACE Awards, Daytime Emmy Awards, YTV Achievement Awards, The Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, and The Big Help. She has characterized herself as "grounded" during her time as a young actress, largely because of a "strong network of people" she was close to.

After The Secret World of Alex Mack came to an end, Oleynik appeared in the film 10 Things I Hate About You as Bianca. The film was released in April 1999 and did well at the box office, grossing a total of $38 million domestically. Alissa Strudwick appeared in twenty-one episodes of the NBC series 3rd Rock from the Sun from 1998 to 2000. She appeared in two independent films, 100 Girls (opposite Emmanuelle Chriqui, Katherine Heigl and Jonathan Tucker) and A Time for Dancing (opposite Shiri Appleby), but neither film received a theatrical release in the United States.

In the independent drama film An American Rhapsody (2001), opposite Nastassja Kinski and Scarlett Johansson, a young woman whose parents are forced to leave her behind in Communist Hungary while heading to the United States, Oleynik played a supporting role.

Oleynik appeared in Bringing Rain (2003), a low-budget teen drama starring Adrian Grenier and Paz de la Huerta, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. She appeared on Malcolm in the Middle in 2005 as Reese's lesbian army buddy who has a crush on his mother. Oleynik appeared in a supporting role in the series Pepper Dennis, which premiered on The WB in April 2006, but was not picked up by The CW's successor. She appeared in the independent drama Pope Dreams in the same year.

In March 2008, Oleynik appeared in episode 13 of Aliens in America. In 2009, she provided audio commentary for the ten Things I Hate About You tenth Anniversary Edition Blu-ray. Jenna Kaye, a CIA analyst who appeared on Hawaii Five-0 in March 2011, was cast in a recurring role before her character was later stricken. Cherryl Brooks, a shop clerk who becomes familiar with the protagonist, Dagny Taggart, was later cast in Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged: Part II (2012) as Cherryl Brooks, a store clerk who becomes familiar with the protagonist, Dagny Taggart (portrayed by Samantha Mathis). Forbes' John Tammy praised it as a "must-see" film. In several episodes on the AMC television show Mad Men, Oleynik also appeared as Ken Cosgrove's girlfriend (and later wife) Cynthia Baxter.

At the Hangar Theatre in Ithaca, New York, Oleynik appeared in the one-woman performance I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti. Oleynik appeared in the Off-Broadway musical comedy Baghdaddy, which premiered in 2017. In 2020, Oleynik appeared in The Healing Powers of Dude, a Netflix family comedy film.

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