Susan Olsen turns 65 on 14 August 2026, and the milestone puts her long run as Cindy Brady back in focus. Born on 14 August 1961, she debuted in the role in 1969 and became the youngest Brady child in The Brady Bunch.
1969 started the run
1969 gave Olsen the part that defined her public life. She first appeared as Cindy Brady after a 1968 episode of Julia, then stayed with The Brady Bunch through its five-season run, which ended in 1974.
1976 and 1977 kept the character moving through The Brady Bunch Hour, and 1981 brought The Brady Girls Get Married. That early stretch matters because it shows how quickly a child role can become a long-term identity in TV, especially when a performer is tied to a single family franchise from the start.
1980s and 1990s break
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Olsen largely disappeared from the screen apart from an appearance in Divorce Court. She returned in 1990 for The Bradys, a six-episode series, then turned up again in 1993 in a segment for MTV movie awards and in 1999 on a Pacific Blue episode.
2004 brought two different developments in the same year: the cast reunited for The Brady Bunch 35th Anniversary Reunion Special: Still Brady After All These Years, and Olsen officially split from Mitch Markwell. She and Markwell had wed in 1995 and share a son, Michael.
2017 Brady reunion
2017 added another reunion that tied Olsen to the franchise’s legacy rather than to a new scripted role. She joined Barry Williams, Christopher Knight and Mike Lookinland on TODAY to pay tribute to Florence Henderson after Henderson died in late 2016.
That sequence leaves Olsen in a familiar position at 65: the child actor whose biggest screen credit arrived in 1969, then a performer who resurfaced mostly through Brady-related events rather than a steady on-screen run. For readers, the useful takeaway is simple — her story is less about a comeback than about a career that never fully detached from Cindy Brady.
