Olsen began acting when she was four years of age and co-starred in six of Mary-Kate and Ashley’s productions; she also auditioned for the film Spy Kids. She almost quit acting in 2004 due to the media frenzy surrounding Mary-Kate’s eating disorder.

Olsen’s breakout role came in 2011, when she appeared in the critically acclaimed film Martha Marcy May Marlene. Olsen was nominated for and won numerous critics awards for her portrayal of the titular character Martha, a girl suffering from delusions and paranoia after fleeing her life in a cult and returning to her family. She next appeared in the horror movie remake Silent House, in which she played the role of Sarah, and appeared in the music video “The Queen” by Carlotta. Olsen filmed the movie Red Lights during mid-2011, and it was released in the U.S. on July 13, 2012. She starred in Josh Radnor’s film, Liberal Arts, which was released on January 22, 2012. She and Dakota Fanning starred in Very Good Girls, a 2013 release.

In January 2013, Olsen was nominated for the BAFTA Rising Star Award. She co-starred in the 2013 American remake of the 2003 South Korean film Oldboy; she played Marie, a young social worker who developed a relationship with the protagonist, played by Josh Brolin. Olsen played Edie Parker, Jack Kerouac’s first wife and the author of the Beat Generation memoir “You’ll Be Okay”, in Kill Your Darlings.

Olsen starred in the 2014 Godzilla remake, opposite Bryan Cranston and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Olsen signed on to play the Scarlet Witch in Avengers: Age of Ultron, the 2015 sequel to The Avengers. She first appeared as the character in a mid-credits scene of the film Captain America: The Winter Soldier, again alongside Taylor-Johnson, who played her brother Quicksilver. She reprised the role in Captain America: Civil War (2016), as well as the sequels Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019), the lattermost of which became the second highest-grossing film of all time.

Elizabeth portrayed Audrey Williams, the wife, manager, and duet partner of singer Hank Williams in the 2015 biographical film I Saw the Light, directed by Marc Abraham and starring Tom Hiddleston as Hank Williams. In 2017, she starred alongside fellow Avenger actor, Jeremy Renner, in the mystery film Wind River and opposite Aubrey Plaza in the comedy/drama film Ingrid Goes West, both of which were released to critical praise.

Next, Elizabeth executive produced and starred as a grieving widow in the Facebook Watch web television series Sorry for Your Loss, which premiered in September 2018. Her performance was described as “stunning”, “disciplined and sharp”, as well as “slyly sympathetic”. The series was canceled in January 2020 after two seasons.

Olsen starred alongside Paul Bettany as Scarlet Witch and Vision, respectively, in the miniseries WandaVision, which premiered on Disney+ in January 2021 as Marvel’s first series from the MCU that was created to air on Disney+. She reprised the role in the film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which released theatrically on May 6, 2022.