10 Things to Know About Kaitlin Olson + Finding Dory #FindingDoryEvent

Finding Dory hits theaters on June 17th and Destiny the whale shark is sure to be a favorite. I sat down with Kaitlin Olson who lends her voice to Destiny in Finding Dory and discussed her role and how motherhood affects her career and the parts she chooses.

If you aren't already familiar with the lovely and talented Kaitlin Olson from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, get ready to add her to your favorite actress list. Olson plays Destiny, a whale shark with terrible vision, in Disney / Pixar's new movie Finding Dory. I had the chance to sit down with her after the world premiere of the film to talk about her role in the movie and parenting her two boys. I found her to be refreshingly honest, down to Earth and real.

Here are 10 things to know about Kaitlin Olson + Finding Dory

1.) Olson signed on to Finding Dory even before she knew what kind of character she was going to play. 

Kaitlin Olson told us: I think Pixar movies are amazing, they really truly are my favorite kids' movies. Wall-E, Toy Story, all of them; they're just amazing movies. They're sweet, they have good messages, and honestly when I found out about the project, before I even found out what kind of character it was going it be, instantly I was like yeah-yeah- yeah yeah-yeah- yeah, anything yes. Because I'm on a show that's for adults. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is not something we let our children watch,so I was really excited to do a kids' movie. You know, at the time I had one baby and I was pregnant with my second one, so it has been four years, now that little one is four and he came to the premier last night, I know it was pretty cool.

2.) Her favorite scene involves one of the cutest creatures you're ever going to see.

I don't want to give anything away or spoil anything for anyone that's going to see Finding Dory, but as soon as the movie opens you're going to melt over one of the voice of baby Dory. Turns out, it's Kaitlin Olson's favorite too. Olson said, "You know what, I, I liked all of the scenes with Tiny Dory. That little baby Dory was so cute, her voice, I was like get out of here!"

You can listen to that sweet voice right here in this Finding Dory trailer: 

We asked Kaitlin if her kids were able to attend the premiere with her and what they thought of it. She told us they did and they loved it... but, "My little one was scared. He was like, "I hated it. I hated the movie." I was like, "Why did you hate it?" and he said, "I didn't like the scary squid.'"

Fair enough, we'll give him that. There is indeed a scary squid (but it's not THAT scary so don't be afraid to take kids of all ages), but she said 5.5 year old loved it.

4.) Olson's favorite characteristic of Destiny is that she's imperfect. 

Olson said, "I like that she can't swim well and that she's imperfect, you know. They're just something so great about that. And about all of these characters - there's something imperfect about all of them, [but] that they still are making it happen and helping each other out. That's what I like about her most I think."

5.) She believes that family is really what you make of it. 

We asked Olson what lesson about friendship does Destiny and Dory's relationship show and why does it relate to kids and adults as well? She answered, "Well working together for one thing and that family is really what you make of it. If you don’t have one, you can create one with good people around you, which is really amazing. And, you know, the just 'keep swimming thing' is a really wonderful thing for everybody to keep in mind. You know, nobody has a perfect life, nobody is perfect, and that's okay.

6.) You can use Finding Dory as a tool to talk to your kids about being okay with who they are.

As she mentioned earlier, Olson said that "Nobody is perfect and that's okay." She went on to add that one of her sons is a perfectionist and she's having a hard time convincing him that it's really okay to not be perfect. We asked him if he got that concept from watching the movie and she said, "He doesn't totally get it but he's super smart too, so he knows when you're trying to hammer him over the head with something. But, yes I'm using that as a tool to talk to him about that stuff, which is just so great... It's great to be able to point at something and not have it not be about your kid, like I'm not talking about you, I'm talking about her, and see how she did that yeah, it's great."

7.) It's hard to sound wobbly.

We asked Olson about the challenges she faced while doing the voice work for the film and she had one surprising tidbit.

Olson told us: Well when they decided that Destiny would be a bad swimmer, because that kind of came through in the middle of the process, he [Director Andrew Stanton] really wanted me to like sound wobbly, like I was having a hard time swimming, so they got me this weird balance board thing that he wanted me to stand on [during my sessions]. The problem is, guys, I have such great balance that I just was like faking being off balance. It was just it was so weird. We tried a whole session like that and I was like, guys, can I just try standing here and doing this? We got rid of the balance board. It sounds like a silly answer, but that truly was kind of a challenge, because you lose your voice. There's a lot of yelling that I like to do in my acting and all that screaming for Dory that I would lose my voice and know that we are closing our session, I'm not going to see them for a month, I don't want to blow the last hour.

8.) Her kids are her first priority. 

Thinking about being able to finally show her kids what mommy does for work, we asked Olson how she balances being a parent with her career.

Olson: My kids are one hundred percent my priority, so I don't take things that will take me away from them too much. I recently agreed to do this pilot called The Mic on Fox, so I'll be shooting that next year and luckily we're mid-season, so it's just going to be twelve episodes this coming first season. And, I said I wanted to produce it so I could make sure that it was not only the vision that I wanted, but that I could also have a little bit of control over the schedule. I always want to be there for bedtime, there are times when I miss it. But, it's rare that I go a day without seeing them... I just do the best I can, like everybody is. Just like every other working moms out there. And I have the luxury of being able to have them come to me after school and play in my trailer and I can't always hang out with them, because I'm working, but at least they're close and they feel like I'm not too far away.

9.) Becky and Gerald are her faves. 

Other than Baby Dory, because everyone is going to love her, we wanted to know if Olson had any other favorite characters. After a thoughtful moment she replied, "Becky and Gerald." I think that's pretty spot on and once you see the movie you'll know why.

10.) Humor plays a HUGE role in her life. 

Since Kaitlin Olson is a comedian, we wanted to know how much she relies on humor in her life outside of work. We asked, "What role does humor play in your life?"

Olson: It's number one. Well, patience is number one and then humor. It's huge... I think it's of utmost importance and it's a huge part of my life. Our set and our Mick set (new show coming to Fox later this year) will be filled with people who are kind to each other and funny, because we're all putting in all these hours and having a gigantic long day. You don’t want to hang out with people who are filled with drama and entitlement issues. Making TV shows and movies, this is not it... I mean it's important to me but it's not that important. So yeah, parenting - as long as I can be a total goofball and they think I'm a goofy idiot, I'm perfectly happy with that.

Special thanks to Sara Lundberg from BudgetSavvyDiva.com for the photos for this post.

Official information about Finding Dory from Disney / Pixar:

Disney•Pixar's “Finding Dory” reunites everyone’s favorite forgetful blue tang, Dory, with her friends Nemo and Marlin on a search for answers about her past. What can she remember? Who are her parents? And where did she learn to speak Whale? Directed by Andrew Stanton (“Finding Nemo,” “WALL•E”) and produced by Lindsey Collins (co-producer “WALL•E”), the film features the voices of Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Ed O'Neill, Kaitlin Olson, Ty Burrell, Eugene Levy and Diane Keaton. “Finding Dory” swims into theaters June 17, 2016.

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IN THEATERS JUNE 17, 2016