Kaitlin Olson (birthname: Kaitlin Willow Olson) has managed a steady career in the movies alongside her acclaimed comedy career on television, starting with a small role in the hit comedy,
Coyote Ugly (2000), starring Piper Perabo, Maria Bello, and Melanie Lynskey, earning $114 million on a $45 million budget. Olson landed a supporting role in the little-seen comedy,
Weather Girl (2009), written and directed by Blayne Weaver and co-starring Tricia O’Kelley, Mark Harmon, and Jon Cryer, followed by the rom-com,
Leap Year (2010), directed by Anand Tucker and starring Amy Adams and Matthew Goode, with Adam Scott and John Lithgow, and earning a fair $32.6 million gross on a $19 million budget.
Olson was cast in a small voice role in The Weinstein Company’s animated comedy-sci-fi movie,
Escape from Planet Earth (2013), with Rob Corddry,
Brendan Fraser, Sarah Jessica Parker, William Shatner, Jessica Alba, Jane Lynch,
Craig Robinson, and
Ricky Gervais, grossing $74.6 million worldwide on a $40 million budget. In another action comedy, Kaitlin Olson had a small supporting role opposite
Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy in
The Heat (2013), directed by Paul Feig, and featuring Demián Bichir, Marlon Wayans, and Michael Rapaport, reaching hit status with a $230 million gross on a $43 million budget.
Another hit comedy for Olson (again in a small supporting role) was co-writers-directors Jonathan Goldstein’s and John Francis Daley’s road movie,
Vacation (2015), starring Ed Helms, Christina Applegate,
Chris Hemsworth, Leslie Mann, Beverly D’Angelo, and Chevy Chase, and grossing ($107 million) over three times costs ($31 million). Olson voiced the role of Destiny in Disney/Pixar’s smash hit sequel, director and co-writer Andrew Stanton’s
Finding Dory (2016), starring the voice cast of Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Hayden Rolence, Ed O’Neill,
Diane Keaton, and Eugene Levy, earning a massive $1.03 billion worldwide on a $200 million budget.
Olson joined the cast of Danny McBride, Rosemarie DeWitt, and Luke Wilson in the black comedy,
Arizona (2018), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. For the first time, Olson reached co-star status playing opposite Woody Harrelson, Ernie Hudson, and
Cheech Marin in director Bobby Farrelly’s sports comedy,
Champions (2023), released by Focus Features. Her next co-starring role was in writers-directors Dave and John Chernin’s high school comedy,
Incoming (date to be announced), with Bobby Cannavale, Thomas Barbusca, and
Mason Thames.