Larisa Romanovna Oleynik was born in Santa Clara, California.[a] Her father was of Ukrainian and Russian ancestry,[5] and she was raised in the Orthodox tradition.[6] Oleynik was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.[7] She graduated from the Pinewood School in Los Altos, California, in 1999.[8] As her acting career flourished, she would "divide her time between normal childhood experiences in Northern California and auditions in Los Angeles."[9]
After the success in her role as Alex Mack, Oleynik decided to attend college,[10] enrolling at Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, New York, which she later described as "the best decision I’ve made".[11]
Career
1989–2002
Oleynik began acting in a San Francisco production of Les Misérables in 1989 after seeing an audition ad in a newspaper when she was eight years old.[12] She obtained two parts in the production (young Cosette and young Eponine), both with singing roles.[13] After appearing in the musical, she was referred to an agent by her Les Misérables co-star, Rider Strong, and began to take formal acting lessons.[12] "I remember being 10 years old and thinking, 'I want to be good at this'... It wasn't about, 'I want to be on TV'. It was more looking around at the other kids and being like, 'I'm not good at sports, I'm not really smart. I think I could be good at this, though'."[12]
Her onscreen acting career began at age 12, in a 1993 episode of the television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman;[12] the same year, she also appeared in the made-for-television film River of Rage: The Taking of Maggie Keene.
Later, in 1993, she was cast in the lead role of the series The Secret World of Alex Mack, where she portrayed a teenage girl who gains superpowers in a chemical accident. She won the role of Alex Mack over 400 other aspirants. The series ran on Nickelodeon from 1994 to 1998 and was one of the network's top three most watched shows,[14] becoming quite a favorite among the child and teen audiences and turning Oleynik into a teen idol. During the show's heyday, children who met Oleynik (and were too young to understand special effects) would often ask her to "morph" for them. Rather than try to explain things, she would quickly glance around, then tell them, "Not here – everybody would see!". Oleynik reprised the role in an All That sketch, although the name was changed to "Alex Sax".[citation needed] She later made an appearance in the 100th episode of the show.
Oleynik had a supporting role in the independent drama film An American Rhapsody (2001), opposite Nastassja Kinski and Scarlett Johansson, which follows a young woman whose parents are forced to leave her behind in Communist Hungary while they flee to the United States.[20]
In March 2008, Oleynik guest-starred in episode 13 of Aliens in America. In 2009, she provided audio commentary for the 10 Things I Hate About You 10th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray. In March 2011, Oleynik started appearing in a recurring role on Hawaii Five-0 as CIA analyst Jenna Kaye, until her character was later killed off.[24] She was subsequently cast in the Ayn Rand adaptation Atlas Shrugged: Part II (2012), as Cherryl Brooks, a store clerk who becomes acquainted with the protagonist, Dagny Taggart (portrayed by Samantha Mathis).[25] Oleynik also guest-starred as Ken Cosgrove's girlfriend (and later wife) Cynthia Baxter in several episodes on the AMC television series Mad Men.[26]
Oleynik resides in Venice, California.[9] She said that her first kiss was with Rider Strong when she was an actress on Boy Meets World. She also says that he was her "first major crush."[30]
In January 2013, she was granted a restraining order against a stalker who was so obsessed with her that he changed his last name to "Oleynik".[31][32]
^Some sources erroneously state that Oleynik was born in San Francisco, including the Biography Today 1996 Annual Cumulation: Profiles of People of Interest to Young Readers (1996).[1]CBS San Francisco stated in a 2011 article that Oleynik was born in the city of Santa Clara.[4]
^ ab"Larisa Online". PEOPLE Online Hosts Larisa Oleynik--May 29, 1997. Archived from the original on March 23, 2002. Retrieved June 30, 2022.
^Radovsky, Vicki Jo (October 1996). "A World Of Her Own". TV Guide. originally reprinted online at virgin.net. Archived from the original on March 11, 2005. Retrieved April 14, 2006.
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