Candy Olsen

Candy Olsen, (born October 1, 1979 in Fairfax, Virginia) is an American dancer, actress, and television personality most famous for her starring role on the hit A&E program, Storage Wars: New York.^[1] She is also the co-owner and co-founder of "C&C Pop-up Shop" which is a mobile pop-up shop of "vintage, eclectic and upcycled" items.^[2]

As a professional dancer, Olsen has danced in dozens of productions including Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera National Tour, as the tango dancer in Hal Prince's National Tour of Evita in 2004,^[3] the National Tour of Spamalot and Goodspeed's Pippen. Candy has danced with companies such as New Jersey Ballet, Diavolo in the original production of The Dream Catcher,^[4] and MOMIX. Olsen has worked with the Los Angeles Opera in many productions and with New York City Opera's The Most Happy Fella,^[5] Other theater credits include Carousel, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and many more.

Early life and education

Olsen was born in Fairfax, Virginia, but grew up in Agoura Hills, California.^[6] She began doing film and television at the age of six, while taking gymnastics, tap dancing, ballet, jazz and acting classes at the same time. She attended the LA County High School for the Arts in Los Angeles and joined a small local ballet company by the age of 16. When she was 17, she moved to New York City to attend the Joffrey Ballet School.^[7] Later, she received a full scholarship to attend Alvin Ailey American Dance Center after which she also joined the New Jersey Ballet.^[7] When Olsen was 19, she got her first big break, dancing in Hal Prince's national tour of The Phantom of the Opera.^[8] Olsen went on to dance for numerous Los Angeles-based dance companies, Disney productions, LA Opera, the Hollywood Bowl, and various film and TV productions.^[2]

Olsen later graduated from the United Stuntmen's Association's International Stunt School in Seattle.

2002 and onwards

In 2002, she was part of the "A New Day" show in Belgium as part of the Celine Dion Show.^[9] She also opened the "A New Day" show at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas in 2003, during which she held the CBS "Candy Cam" segment and interviewed Justin Timberlake live.

Credits

Olsen has been in many productions including:^[10]

• Dancing with Diavolo in the original production of The Dream Catcher in 2003
• Worked with Momix on their creation of Lunar Sea
• Was featured as a tango dancer in the national tour of Evita,^[3][11] which was directed by Hal Prince in 2004, whom she had previously worked with during her work on The Phantom of the Opera
• Was cast in The Most Happy Fella alongside Paul Sorvino at the New York City Opera and Lincoln Center which was directed by Philip Wm. McKinley^[12]
• Was cast in Gabriel Barre's Pippen at the Goodspeed Theater in Connecticut^[13][14]
• Was cast as Puck in John Delancie's adaptation of Midsummer Night's Dream which she performed with the Milwaukee Symphony
• She was also cast in several production directed by Jason Alexander with the Los Angeles based theater company, Reprise
• Cast in two of Michael Michetti's productions:^[15] Carousel which gained widespread national attention^[16] and Kiss Me, Kate^[17]
• Cast in David Lee's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum^[18]
• She has performed in dozens of National Industrials
• Was cast in director Mike Nicholas' Spamalot which was choreographed by Casey Nicholaw and performed in Las Vegas^[19]
• She was also cast in Steven Stafford's Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at Sacramento Music Circus
• Most recently she was cast in An American in Paris Directed by Christopher Wheeldon. She danced in two of Twyla Tharp's productions: Sinatra Dance With Me^[20] at the Wynn Hotel and the national tour of Come Fly Away^[21][22]

Storage Wars: NY

Olsen has been a main player with Courtney Wagner in the hit reality show, Storage Wars: New York. On the show, Olsen is partners with longtime friend Courtney Wagner, forming the team "C&C".^[23] They specialize in vintage clothing which they sell from their C&C Pop-up Shop, a flaming-banana yellow van. Despite being relatively new to the "auction game", and having less money than their more well-seasoned counterparts, they are known to have proven that they can play hard, often using their "feminine wiles" to get them ahead.^[24]

C&C Pop-up Shop

Olsen and Wagner founded C&C Pop-up Shop in 2012, which is a mobile and roaming pop-up shop that sells vintage "upcycled" items. Based from a yellow van which the shop has become renowned for, to keep overhead costs low, it passes through many locations such as the Brooklyn Night Bazaar, Brooklyn Flea, Fort Greene and Williamsburg, the Music Hall of Williamsburg, the Bell House in Brooklyn, Artists and Fleas, and the Hester Street Fair on the LES and on the streets of Greenpoint.^[25] The owners find various vintage items to sell in storage lockers, estate sales, and even on the city streets.

References

External links

• Candy Olsen on Twitter
• C&C official website