The “Martha Marcy May Marlene” star says it was “different from being an actor in Hollywood for some reason.”

Emerging it girl Elizabeth Olsen tells the October issue of Nylon magazine (via JustJared) why she decided to begin her career in theater, for which she’s been training since she was a little girl.

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“I just always thought that theater was different from being an actor in Hollywood for some reason,” says Olsen, who gained buzz when Martha Marcy May Marlene and Silent House were both screened at the Sundance Film Festival this January.

“It was like this safe place where people aren’t harassed,” she continues of the medium. “But I was apprehensive because I saw how brutal people can be when other people put themselves out there.”

Despite growing up as the younger sister of Full House and fashion mogul twins Mary-Kate and Ashley, Olsen insists she was not drawn into the spotlight by them.

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“I have to attribute the way I have always looked at [work] to my father, because he was a really good influence on us. It was always very important to him that his daughters be financially independent. He wanted us to know that we could take care of ourselves, because he never liked the idea of us needing a man.”

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She did learn a few lessons from her sisters though: “And witnessing how my sisters can take care of themselves financially was a great model to have. I consider myself lucky to have such a normal family,” she says.

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Olsen, a student at New York University, told The Hollywood Reporter in January that her future plans include, “just trying to balance school and acting, going script by script. I hope I will be able to do stage and film work. I really love it all.”