Background and career
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).
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.
In addition to her role in High School Musical, High School Musical 2 and High School Musical 3: Senior Year, Rulin's credits include the Disney Channel original films 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 that in the first film, including a solo in "You Are the Music in Me" and a few lines in "Work This Out." Rulin reprised her role as Kelsi Nielsen in High School Musical 3: Senior Year, also with a larger part, and performed three songs, including a duet with Lucas Grabeel. Rulin co-starred with Jessica Simpson in the film Major Movie Star (released in the United States under the title Private Valentine: Blonde & Dangerous). In 2009, Rulin co-starred with Billy Ray Cyrus and Heather Locklear in the drama film Flying By. 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, which ran for two seasons from 2015 to 2016.
On November 11, 2021, Rulin married entrepreneur Joseph Noel Pauline. In August 2022, the couple announced that they had welcomed their first child, a daughter.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
