Taking The Mick to the masses
Juggling two hit comedies and two children are all in a year’s work for actress Kaitlin Olson, discovers James Croot.
Kaitlin Olson has traded the sunny climes of Philadelphia for a dysfunctional family in Connecticut and she’s loving it,
The 41-year-old actress, best known for playing Deandra ‘‘Sweet Dee’’ Reynolds on the longrunning It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, now has another prime-time character for audiences to enjoy.
The Mick‘ s Mackenzie ‘‘Mickey’’ Murphy is an irresponsible grafter whose life is transformed when she is forced to become the parental guardian for her sister’s three wealthy children after their parents flee the country to avoid fraud charges. Olson, who is also the show’s executive producer, recently talked to Fairfax about her latest role. I loved that it was about this woman who is very much in charge, but a little bit broken underneath. It’s a classic fish-outof water situation. It’s created by two writers who were on Philadelphia [Dave and John Chernin] and I always thought they were extremely talented. That’s the main reason why I took it seriously. I know how funny those guys are and I know what they are capable of. But I have two little kids [6-year-old Axel and 4-year-old Leo] and I didn’t know that I was ready to do two shows at the same time. However, I just really fell in love with it. We shoot Sunny in the springtime and we began shooting this last fall. We’re figuring it all out and doing alright. Oh yes – absolutely. I work very long hours, so my kids come to me when they’ve finished pre-school and kindergarten for the day and hang out. Jack [Stanton, who plays her youngest charge Ben] is 8 and my kids love him. It’s really cute. We shot an episode where he gets in a bicycle accident and he had the whole side of his face bloody and scraped up. My kids were obsessed with it and wouldn’t let him leave and were telling everyone they met about his ‘‘accident’’. But they know all of the cast. It’s my second family. I’m not interested in my kids wanting to act at all. I’ve never spoken to an actor who wants that. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to produce this. I wanted to cast the rest of the cast. I picked those kids and worked with them a lot during auditions. They are all wonderful. They have completely different energies and all bring something special and unique to the show. As does Carla Jimenez [who plays the family’s maid Alba]. She is comedically gifted and she and I can improvise a lot – which is fun.