Background
Olstead was born in Kingwood, Texas, to Christopher Eric Olstead and Rebecca Lynn Jeffries.
Olstead was born in Kingwood, Texas, to Christopher Eric Olstead and Rebecca Lynn Jeffries.
She also attended Centre Stage theatrical school and is mentioned on their website"s list of alumni.
Active since childhood as an actress, she is best known for her roles in the television sitcoms Still Standing as Lauren Miller and The Secret Life of the American Teenager as Madison Cooperstein. In addition, she has recorded four studio albums, primarily of jazz music Olstead is of Norwegian ancestry.
As a child actress, she made films and commercials from age eight onwards.
From 2002 to 2006, she appeared in the television sitcom Still Standing as middle sister Lauren Miller. She also had a small part in the 2004 film 13 Going on 30.
She co-starred in the American Broadcasting Company Family series The Secret Life of the American Teenager, about fifteen-year-old Amy Juergens"s struggle through her unexpected pregnancy and how it affected her peers. In 2004, Olstead released a self-titled album of jazz songs and popular standards for Warner Brothers
Records to good reviews.
Since her previous releases had limited distribution, this album was considered her official debut. She subsequently performed in Berlin during the Live 8 concert on July 2, 2005. Olstead also recorded with trumpeter Chris Botti on his 2005 album To Love Again: The Duets and appeared on the 2006 Digital Video Disc Chris Botti Live with Orchestra and Special Guests.
Her singing style is influenced by such great jazz vocalists as Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan.
Reportedly, her musical talent was discovered by composer David Foster, who produced her 2004 album. She later performed with him on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
A follow-up album entitled Skylark, also produced by Foster, was originally announced for release in 2005, but it was subsequently pushed back several times, with release dates in the summer of 2006 and early 2007 being mentioned on online retailers such as Amazon.com. lieutenant was then scheduled for a June 2008 release, but was delayed once again.
lieutenant was finally released on January 27, 2009, nearly four years after it was originally announced.
On September 14, 2011, as the result of a criminal complaint initially made by actress Scarlett Johansson, the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced it was investigating the alleged hacking of celebrity cellphone and email accounts and the dissemination of explicit nude photographs of Johansson and approximately 50 other celebrities, including Olstead. As a result of the investigation, 35-year-old Christopher Chaney of Jacksonville, Florida, was arrested in October 2011. Prosecutors are seeking $160,000 restitution to victims ($76,000 for Olstead herself), in addition to a 71-month sentence.
Olstead is a vegan.
She appeared in a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals ad, Fish Are Friends Not Food, urging her fans to become vegan themselves. In 2012, Olstead joined People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals"s campaign to free the elephant Mali from captivity at the Manila Zoological and Botanical Garden, where she has been alone for the last three decades. Olstead most recently starred as Kaitlan in the 2013 supernatural thriller The Midnight Game and as Jess Felton in the 2014 technology-themed thriller film Unfriended.