Showtime has officially entered Mary-Kate Olsen in the Emmy race for best guest actress in the dark comedy series Weeds for her role as Tara Lindman.  This potentially puts her against Lindsay Lohan, who is set to play an old schoolmate of America Ferrera's character Betty Suarez on Ugly Betty's May 22 season ender, and Britney Spears, who guest starred as a receptionist on the sitcom How I Met Your Mother.

Submitting an Emmy entry costs several hundred dollars, which means Showtime is quite serious about backing up Olsen in the race.  There is no word yet on whether CBS is officially entering the Britney Spears episodes or whether ABC will put up cash on Lindsay, though many speculations have already been circulating.

As for Olsen, this doesn't mean a nomination is in the bag for her as well.  Following the initial nominations, there are still two rounds of voting.  The first round involves a popular vote by actors who are members in the academy.  If she makes the top ten, she then must submit a sample episode for a judging panel.

For those who are not familiar, Olsen played a bible-loving pot-smoking gal who was the love interest of Nancy's (Mary-Louise Parker's) son Silas (Hunter Parrish) on Weeds.  She appeared in 10 of the 15 episodes of the third season.

Casting Olsen on Weeds created quite a buzz considering the notorious Manhattan club-hopper, who has suffered from an eating disorder, was featured puffing a common drug renowned for inducing an appetite.  Nevertheless, she garnered decent reviews from some TV critics and fans.

Olen's appearance on Weeds marked her first major solo gig without twin sister Ashley, with whom she last appeared on TV in 2002.  That year, Mary-Kate was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for best performance in the children's series So Little Time.  Prior to that, she appeared on Full House and Two of a Kind.


-Kris De Leon, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: L.A. Times
(Image courtesy of Showtime)