Kaitlin Olson

Kaitlin Willow Olson (born August 18, 1975) is an American actress, comedian, and producer. She began her career in the Groundlings, an improvisational group in Los Angeles, California. She had minor roles in several television series before being cast as Deandra “Sweet Dee” Reynolds on the long-running FX comedy series It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005–present).

Olson starred as Mackenzie “Mickey” Molng in the Fox comedy series The Mick (2017–2018) and as Cricket Melfi in the Quibi comedy series Flipped (2020), which earned her a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series.

Olson has also appeared in films, including Leap Year (2010), The Heat (2013), Vacation (2015), Finding Dory (2016), and Arizona (2018).

Early life

Olson was born in Portland, Oregon to Donald Lee Olson, a publisher, and Melinda Leora, a nurse. Shortly after her birth, Olson relocated with her family to Spokane, Washington, then to Vashon Island, Washington, in Puget Sound, 13 mi (21 km) west of Seattle, where she lived until age eight. Her family subsequently relocated back to the Portland area, settling in Tualatin, where Olson grew up on a farm. Her father worked as the publisher of the Portland Tribune from 2000 to 2001. At age twelve, Olson was involved in a serious bicycle accident involving a vehicle, resulting in a fractured skull requiring reconstructive surgery. She graduated from Tigard High School in Tigard, Oregon in 1993.

Olson studied theater at the University of Oregon, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in theater arts in 1997. After college, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting professionally.

Career

Olson was a member of the improvisational group The Groundlings. She toured with the USO to Bosnia, Kosovo and Norway. She made several guest appearances in films and television series such as Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Drew Carey Show, The Jamie Kennedy Experiment, Out of Practice, Miss Match, Family Guy, and Punk’d. She had a minor role in the film Coyote Ugly.

In 2004, she was cast as Deandra “Sweet Dee” Reynolds in the FX sitcom It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. She also voiced Ethel in the first season of the Comedy Central animated series Brickleberry. In the 2013 film The Heat she appeared as a Bulgarian druggie who engages in an exchange of cultural perspectives and insults with Melissa McCarthy’s character.

She played a recurring role as Hartley Underwood, the “one-armed” neighbor in the FX series The Riches. In June 2016, the Human Rights Campaign released a video in tribute to the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting; in the video, Olson and others told the stories of the people killed there. Also in 2016, Olson provided the voice of Destiny in Walt Disney’s Finding Dory.

Olson starred in the Fox sitcom The Mick, which premiered in January 2017. She also served as an executive producer for the series. She returned in the second season of The Mick, which premiered in September 2017. However, Fox cancelled the series after its second season, ending in April 2018.

Personal life

Olson married her It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia co-star, Rob McElhenney, in California on September 27, 2008. The couple started dating secretly during the second season of the series.

In 2009, McElhenney and Olson announced their purchase of Skinner’s Bar at 226 Market Street in Philadelphia (39.949895°N 75.144795°W). It was renamed Mac’s Tavern. They had their first child, a boy named Axel Lee, on September 1, 2010. Olson went into labor at a game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies, and Axel was born in their California home as planned. Their second son, Leo Grey McElhenney, was born on April 5, 2012.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Eyes to Heaven	Unknown
2000	Jacks	Jocelyn
2000	Coyote Ugly	Bidding Customer
2001	Fugly	Cha Cha	Short film
2003	Scapegoats	Jeannie	Short film
2009	Weather Girl	Sherry
2010	Leap Year	Libby
2010	Held Up	Rocky II
2012	Trading Up	Barbara Manzer	Short film
2013	Escape from Planet Earth	3D Movie Girl (voice)
2013	The Heat	Tatiana
2015	Vacation	Arizona Cop
2016	Finding Dory	Destiny (voice)
2018	Arizona	Vicki

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000–2020	Curb Your Enthusiasm	Becky	7 episodes
2002–2004	The Drew Carey Show	Traylor	12 episodes
2002	Meet the Marks	Kaitlin Marks	Main role; 7 episodes
2003	Punk’d	Field Agent	2 episodes
2003	Miss Match	Jillian	Episode: “Who’s Sari Now?”
2004	Significant Others	Lauren	Episode: “The First Time”
2004	George Lopez	Janet	Episode: “Home Sweet Homeschool”
2005	Kelsey Grammer Presents: The Sketch Show	Various roles	6 episodes; also writer
2005–present	It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia	Deandra “Sweet Dee” Reynolds	Main role; 154 episodes
2006	Out of Practice	Debbie	Episode: “Model Behavior”
2007	The Riches	Hartley Underwood	5 episodes
2011	Family Guy	Brenda Quagmire (voice)	2 episodes
2012	Unsupervised	Carol / Danielle (voice)	7 episodes
2012	Brickleberry	Ethel (voice)	Main role; 10 episodes
2014–2015	New Girl	Ashley	2 episodes
2015–2019	Bob’s Burgers	Helen (voice)	2 episodes
2016	Cassius & Clay	Ordwood Cassius (voice)	Unsold pilot
2016	The Simpsons	Quinn (voice)	Episode: “The Girl Code”
2017–2018	The Mick	Mackenzie “Mickey” Molng	Lead role; 37 episodes Also executive producer
2018	Mean Jean	Birdie	Unsold pilot
2020	Flipped	Cricket Melfi	Main role; 11 episodes
2020	Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?	Herself	Episode: “Dr. Phil, Katlin Olson & Lauren Lapkus”
2020	Space Force	Edison Jaymes	Episode: “Edison Jaymes”

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2015	Disney Infinity 3.0	Destiny (voice)

Music Videos

Year	Artist	Title	Role
2021	Imagine Dragons	Follow You (Imagine Dragons song)	Herself