Larisa Oleynik

Name- Larisa Oleynik
Occupation - Actress
Birthday - June 7, 1983
Sign - Gemini
Birthplace - Santa Clara County,
California
Height - 5' 7" (1m70)

Larisa Oleynik Bio

Larisa R. Oleynik was born on June 7, 1981 to Lorraine and Roman Oleynik. Her first major acting (and singing) role was at age eight in a Broadway road show of the musical Les Miserables at the Curran Theater in San Francisco. Before this Larisa had done a few school plays.

Larisa alternated between Young Cosette and Young Eponine. She did eight shows a week. Even then, Larisa had the modest and unassuming attitude that her fans find so cool. Interestingly Rider Strong (who plays Shawn in ABC's Boy Meets World) played the role of Gavroche in the same show and have been friends ever since. Larisa played Shawn's girlfriend "Dana" in two 1996 guest appearances on Boy Meets World.

In the summer of '93 Larisa (now 12 years old) auditioned for and got the starring role in the show The Secret World of Alex Mack.

The show was shot in a converted warehouse in Valencia, California which is located about an hour from Los Angeles. For the first season, thirteen episodes were shot in August of 1994 when Larisa was on vacation from school. The second season episodes (twenty-six total) and third season episodes (thirty total) were made in the summer and well into the school year. This meant some big changes and sacrifices for Larisa. She would regularly commute from her family's home in suburban San Francisco to Los Angeles and a two-bedroom rental apartment that she shared with her mother (she flew back home on weekends). During the time she was in LA when school was in session she also had to work with a tutor in addition to working on the show. Her work day lasted nine and a half hours and she usually had to be up at 5 AM. On some days she would attend acting classes after work.

Although there was hard work and sacrifice involved in making The Secret World of Alex Mack, there were also great accomplishments and great times. The show was very successful, bringing the Nickelodeon cable network some of its highest ratings ever (it was seen by nearly two and a half million viewers a week) and the show was praised by television critics. Larisa spoke often about the great people she met while making the show including costars Meredith Bishop and Darris Love.

The forth season (made in the summer of 1997 when Larisa had just turned 16) only consists of nine episodes. Larisa wanted a chance for some normal high school life and also a chance to concentrate on academics so that she could attend the college of her choice, but she still auditions from time to time, waiting to see what comes up.

Larisa has also appeared in films. In August of 1995, she appeared in the movie The Baby-Sitter's Club, based on the series of books by Ann M. Martin and 10 Things I Hate About You in 1999. Currently, she can be seen in the film Bringing Rain, which is about a boarding school on the East Coast.