Olesya Yurivna Rulina (Russian: Oлeся Юрьевна Рулина; 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).
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Early life
Olesya Rulin was born in Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (now Russia). She spent her early childhood in Likhoslavl.
When Rulin was eight, she immigrated 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 graduated from West Jordan High School in 2005.
Rulin is also a trained ballet dancer. When she was 12, she entered a model-search contest at the urging of her mother and won representation by four different agencies. 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; she was working at a Nordstrom store when the first High School Musical came out. She was studying economics in Paris when the casting for High School Musical 2 took place.
