Olesya Rulin

Olesya Yurivna Rulin[1] (Russian: Oлeся Юрьевна Pулина; born March 17, 1986) is a Russian-American actress. She is best known for co-starring in all three films of the High School Musical franchise as Kelsi Nielsen. She also starred in the films Private Valentine: Blonde & Dangerous (2008), Flying By (2009), Expecting Mary (2010), and Family Weekend (2013).

This name uses Eastern Slavic naming customs; the patronymic is Yurivna and the family name is Rulin.

Olesya Rulin
Rulin at WonderCon 2015
Born	Olesya Yurivna Rulina (1986-03-17) March 17, 1986 Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Citizenship	Russia United States
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2001–present

Early life

Olesya Rulin was born in Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (now Russia). She spent her early childhood in Likhoslavl.[2][3]

When Rulin was eight,[4] she emigrated to the United States to rejoin her father who had done so two years earlier. They first lived in Texas, then later in Utah. Rulin went to West Jordan Middle School during her time in Utah.

Rulin is also a trained ballet dancer. When she was 12,[4] she entered a model search contest at the urging of her mother and won representation by four different agencies.[3] She can also play the piano.

Prior to acting full-time, she worked for a year as a certified nursing assistant and also at stores such as Victoria's Secret;[5] she was working at a Nordstrom store when the first High School Musical came out.[2] She was studying economics in Paris when the casting for High School Musical 2 was being done.[2] Rulin graduated from West Jordan High School in 2005.

Olesya is a pescatarian. She can read, write, and speak fluent Russian. Olesya dedicated a lot of time to charity where she cleaned up several beaches, spent time with dogs that were without a home, and gave away some dresses for charity.

Acting career

In addition to her role in High School Musical, High School Musical 2, and High School Musical 3: Senior Year, her other credits include the Disney Channel Original Movies Halloweentown High, The Poof Point, and Hounded, the television series Everwood and the feature films Forever Strong, Mobsters and Mormons and The Dance.

Rulin's part in High School Musical 2 was significantly larger than the first movie, including a solo in "You Are The Music In Me" and a few lines in "Work This Out".[6] Rulin reprised her role as Kelsi Nielsen in High School Musical 3: Senior Year, also with a larger part, and performed in three songs, one of them being a duet alongside Lucas Grabeel.[7]

Rulin is also co-starred alongside Jessica Simpson in the film Major Movie Star (released in the United States under the title Private Valentine: Blonde & Dangerous).[8][9] In 2009, Rulin co-starred with Billy Ray Cyrus and Heather Locklear in a drama film Flying By.[10]

In 2010, Rulin starred in Expecting Mary which also starred Elliott Gould, Linda Gray, Lainie Kazan, Cloris Leachman, Della Reese, Cybill Shepherd, Gene Simmons, and Fred Willard.

In 2013, she starred in Family Weekend with Kristin Chenoweth and Matthew Modine.

In August 2014, it was announced that Rulin would be playing the role of Callista Secor in the PlayStation Network series Powers.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	Urban Legends: Bloody Mary	Mindy	Direct-to-video
2005	Mobsters and Mormons	Julie Jaymes
2006	High School Musical	Kelsi Nielsen
2006	Vampire Chicks with Chainsaws	Sariah	Direct-to-video
2007	American Pastime	Cathy Reyes
2007	High School Musical 2	Kelsi Nielsen
2007	The Dance	Britney
2008	Forever Strong	Emily's Friend
2008	Private Valentine: Blonde & Dangerous	Petrovich
2008	High School Musical 3: Senior Year	Kelsi Nielsen
2009	Chuckle Boy	Assistant	Short film
2009	Flying By	Ellie	Direct-to-video
2010	Expecting Mary	Mary
2011	Apart	Emily Gates
2011	A Thousand Cuts	Melanie
2013	Family Weekend	Emily Smith-Dungy

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	Hounded	Girl #1	Television film
2001	The Poof Point	Annie	Television film
2002	Touched by an Angel	High School Student	Episode: "Bring on the Rain"
2004	Halloweentown High	Natalie the Pink Troll	Television film
2004	Everwood	The Drunk Girl	Episode: "No Sure Thing"
2009–2011	Greek	Abby	Recurring role, 10 episodes
2010	CSI: Miami	Andrea Williams	Episode: "Mommie Deadest"
2010	The Mentalist	Sam Starks	Episode: "The Red Ponies"
2011	Drop Dead Diva	Mia Dalton	Episode: "He Said, She Said"
2012	Touch	Girl in the Red Dress	Episode: "Safety in Numbers"
2012	Dirty Work	Bambi	Episode: "Temporary Midnight"
2013	Underemployed	Pixie Dexter	2 episodes
2014	NCIS	Kim Troutman	Episode: "Page Not Found"
2015–2016	Powers	Calista Secor	Main role
2015	The Night Shift	Maya	Episode: "Darkest Before Dawn"
2017	Family Guy	Russian Meg Griffin Double (voice)	Episode: "A House Full of Peters"
2018	Devious Nanny	Amber Deschanel	Television film; also known as The Au Pair
2019	SEAL Team	Jenna Robertson	Episode: "Things Not Seen"

References

1. "Twitter / olesyarulin: @middlenamegame it's yurivna". Twitter.com. Retrieved 2013-04-07.
2. Richard Huff (2007-12-28). "Olesya Rulin prepares for 'High School Musical 3'". New York Daily News. Retrieved 2008-02-10.
3. Holly Siegel. "Behind the scenes with HSM's Oleysa Rulin". Elle Girl. Retrieved 2008-02-10.
4. "Report from Disney's High School Musical 2 DVD Launch at El Capitan Theatre". ultimatedisney.com. 2007-11-19. Retrieved 2008-02-10.
5. Lynn Barker (2007-11-30). "High School Musical 2 - DVD Premiere Chats". www.teenmusic.com. Archived from the original on 2008-10-09. Retrieved 2008-02-10.
6. The Graphic - Going back to ?High School? Archived 2007-10-12 at the Wayback Machine
7. High School Musical 3 page on Olesya's Official Site Archived 2008-04-23 at the Wayback Machine Friday, April 11, 2008
8. ‘High School Musical’ Star Reports For Duty In ‘Simpson’s ‘Major Movie Star’ Monday, August 20, 2007 at 9:30 am
9. Rulin is From Russia with Love Retrieved Wednesday, August 15th, 2007
10. Flying high: Cyrus, Rulin join indie pic Wednesday, October 24, 2007

External links

• Olesya Rulin on IMDb
• Olesya Rulin on Twitter