Both Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen played Michelle in Full House, so here’s how tell which twin is in particular scenes. In 1987, ABC debuted the Jeff Franklin-created family sitcom that revolved around the newly-widowed Danny Tanner (Bob Saget), who’s left to race her three young daughters – DJ, Stephanie and the still-infant Michelle. While Candace Cameron and Jodie Sweetin were old enough to play the elder sisters, the show had to be a bit creative with the youngest due child labor laws, resulting in casting Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen for the part.
The twins were only nine months old when they began filming for Full House, and the series had to follow strict limits when it comes to how long a child actor can be working on set. Having two babies alternating playing the role helped the show to be on-schedule as they can simply swap the kids and continue filming. This set-up continued even until the girls were old enough like Cameron or Sweetin when they were cast and lasted throughout the show’s whole eight-season-run. However, there’s a cool way to distinguish which Olsen twin is playing Michelle in certain scenes thanks to some notable differences.
As Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are fraternal twins, there are some key distinctions between them. Physically, Ashley has a freckle on her right cheek, while her sister’s is on her upper lip. Mary Kate’s ears are more rounded, while her sister’s are pointy. It might be a little difficult to distinguish these physical attributes without disrupting one’s viewing of Full House, but, there’s a much easier way to tell the twins apart, which depends on their dominant hand. Ashley is right-handed, while Mary-Kate is left handed. This is the reason why avid fans of the series might have noticed that Michelle typically used both her hands when eating or writing. The series worked around this minor complication of having to actors play a single role by simply saying that the Michelle is ambidextrous.
