Kaitlin Olson's Real Name: Kaitlin Willow Olson

Quick answer: Kaitlin Olson's full name is Kaitlin Willow Olson, according to the Library of Congress. She was born August 18, 1975, in Portland, Oregon. She has played Deandra "Sweet Dee" Reynolds on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia since the show began and stars as Morgan Gillory in ABC's High Potential (LOC; Portland Tribune).

Real name and early life

The LOC record gives her full name and her Portland birthplace and date. The Portland Tribune says she spent her early years on Vashon Island in Washington's Puget Sound, and her family moved back to the Portland area when she was 8. Her father, Don Olson, was publisher of the Portland Tribune from 2000 to 2001. Speaking to The Oregonian in 2010, she remembered growing up on a small, quiet farm and being a shy child who was "scared of people."

She told The Oregonian in 2024 that she was too shy to audition for a school play until high school. She graduated from Tigard High School in 1993 and earned a bachelor's degree in theater arts from the University of Oregon in 1997. She then moved to Los Angeles and joined the improv troupe the Groundlings, whose alumni include Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig, and Lisa Kudrow.

Career highlights

The Portland Tribune says the Groundlings led to a guest spot on Curb Your Enthusiasm and to roles on The Drew Carey Show, Out of Practice, Miss Match, and Family Guy, plus a small part in Coyote Ugly (2000). In 2004 she was cast as Sweet Dee in the FX sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Co-starring Glenn Howerton, Charlie Day, co-creator Rob McElhenney, and Danny DeVito, Britannica describes it as the longest-running live-action sitcom in U.S. history. The Oregonian reported in 2010 that the writers built Dee around her own quirks.

She led and executive produced the Fox comedy The Mick, which premiered in 2017, playing Mackenzie Murphy. The Oregonian praised her as DJ, the daughter of Jean Smart's character, on Hacks. In 2024 she began starring in ABC's High Potential, inspired by a French series, as Morgan Gillory, a single mother and cleaner with exceptional intelligence.

Olson and McElhenney fell in love on the Sunny set and married. The Oregonian reported the birth of their first son, Axel, in September 2010.

Name notes for searchers

Kaitlin is her first name, Willow her middle name, and Olson her family surname, shared with her father, Don. She has kept Olson professionally since marrying McElhenney. She is unrelated to Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, a different surname spelling.