the O’Carroll sisters will always make you feel like their Third Sister

A profile of the most interesting sisters you'll ever know!

When Ibby and Kate O’Carroll were kids growing up in Los Angeles, they worshiped Lady Gaga. She wasn’t just the new superstar on the scene: she was a pop culture icon in the making. And, of course, there was Katy Perry, Britney Spears, and Nicki Minaj more icons on the rise. The sisters, two years apart, spent their childhoods obsessing over all of the brightly saturated music videos and zany red carpet looks. They spent hours learning choreography and styling costumes to match their idols. In their teenage years, the duo grew to love the new pop legends of the day, like Lorde and Charli XCX¹. And they found authors, artists, and comedians as other muses. From Hilton Als, Joan Didion, and Cindy Sherman to Kate Berlant, John Early, and Jacqueline Novak², no sect of culture or media is too disparate – the sisters are expansive and knowledgeable in the types of media they consume and are, at their core, fangirls.

To grow up in Los Angeles is to grow up surrounded by culture. It’s a city at the center of the film industry. It’s a city written about extensively by authors and screenwriters, and comedians often make its inhabitants the punchline of stand-up sets. Ibby and Kate can’t tell you whether their interest in the arts is nature or nurture. But, coming of age in Los Angeles inevitably exposes kids to a career in entertainment. Making it in a creative field isn’t simply a dream; it’s an observable, reachable reality.

As the daughters of art history majors and nieces of an event planner, Ibby and Kate often spent their school breaks in museums around the world, weekends watching the LA Philharmonic orchestra performing at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and summers at the Hollywood Bowl. Celebrating art and imagination was always encouraged, and the two utilized their creative spirits as Kate enrolled in theater and Ibby in competitive dance.

Ibby and Kate grew up in the pre-TikTok era. These days, kids dance to a TikTok, and it’s immediately on the internet, haunting them forever. The O’Carroll sisters' creations were for themselves, locked on their parents’ desktops. Equipped with PhotoBooth and iMovie, the pair choreographed, directed, and performed intricate music video parodies and recreations to pay homage to their favorite pop stars of the mid-2000s, often recruiting their friends, their parents, and sometimes, their black cat, Brad.

“We’ve always been huge stans of pop divas,” Kate described. “At the time, before we had social media or the language to talk about how much we loved these pop stars, making these music videos was a way to channel that energy into worshiping these artists.”

Anytime the sisters had a friend over for a playdate or hosted a birthday party, the chosen activity would always be filming a music video. As the two got older, the music videos fell by the wayside. But, on Thanksgiving in 2018, Ibby and Kate listened to Ariana Grande’s new hit “thank u, next” and began jokingly choreographing a dance number set to the tune. Close friend Eden Burkow began filming Ibby and Kate as they pranced and grooved around the living room. Cut to Ibby and Kate dancing around their home and filming the performance in short increments, limited by Snapchat’s 10-second time constraint. Dressed up as Thanksgiving pilgrims, sassily lip-syncing to the music, they recorded a make-shift music video.

Burkow posted the video to her Snapchat account, garnering many positive reactions from friends and viewers. “Everyone was reaching out telling me how hysterical they were,” Burkow told me. Burkow’s mother suggested the O’Carroll sisters begin a brand for their projects as a way to elevate their creative childhood hobby into more grown-up compositions. They decided to call it “Third Sister Entertainment,” referencing Burkow as their “third sister.”

“It was a perfect name because, of course, there’s Eden, but whenever we have a best friend we hang out with, they become our ‘third sister,’” Ibby explained. “We also now see the audience as part of our sisterhood and want people to be involved in the sisterhood of creativity we cultivate.”

“I think what’s remarkable about them is their creativity is a conversation between the two of them that they allow everyone else to be privy to,” Burkow said. “We live in a strange world where with social media, most people are into creating content for recognition or likes. With Ibby and Kate, it’s pure love and enjoyment which is so captivating to watch.”

Third Sister Entertainment is a self-described “world-renowned entertainment conglomerate specializing in theme-driven music videos and party planning.” Kate admits, “the ‘world-renowned’ part is a little tongue-in-cheek, but we hope to be one day!” In fact, the sisters are quick to point out they eventually want Third Sister to be a functioning production company where they produce films, TV, and theater.

Beyond their parody music videos, the duo hosts yearly themed murder mystery and Oscar Award parties with costumes, storylines, pun-filled menus, and full-out decor. This past December was Third Sister’s fifth-annual murder mystery party. I received my invitation in early December – the sisters require an RSVP well in advance to cast their guests into their character roles for the party. The guest list comprises friends and family who will commit to the craft as fellow patrons of Third Sister’s vision. Past themes have been classic Clue, Harry Potter, Coraline, and Wes Anderson-inspired.

“From the Oscar parties to the murder mystery parties, to their music videos, I am always amazed at their commitment,” said Lily Spar, a childhood friend and an annual murder mystery guest. “They are shameless fans. They have turned me on to my favorite podcasts, movies, and micro-celebrities. When I think about it, so many of my cultural takes are just diluted versions of Ibby and Kate’s.”

This year’s theme was a take on art history (a family-favorite, clearly!). Each guest is assigned a character and provided with inspiration photos for costume ideas. As guests prepare their costumes and get into character, Ibby and Kate spend the week before the party creating handmade decorations, escape room-esque puzzles, and writing the storyline for the mystery. Guests aren’t expected to bring a hostess gift or an appetizer — they’re simply to be fully committed to the theme.

“If one of my friends flaked on the murder mystery last minute or didn’t fully commit, I think I would stop being friends with them,” Kate said, completely straight-faced. Ibby laughed, chiming in: “So true!”

“I think one of the main aspects of the Third Sister ethos is earnestness over coolness. We think it’s the coolest thing to try really hard and be super into something,” Kate added, softening her bluntness yet failing to assuage the prior threat completely.

The night started at 6 p.m. Guests arrived, as directed, fully costumed at the O’Carroll family home on Carmelita. The house in the Beverly Hills flats was also where Ibby and Kate’s mom, Robyn, grew up.

“Our grandmother used to throw themed parties and dinners in our house all the time, which we didn’t even know until our mom told us recently,” Ibby said.

As guests filed in, the sisters and their parents presented guests with their characters’ name tags. Invitees were instructed to introduce themselves while in character, using their pre-written breakdowns as inspiration. Family members, high school friends, college friends, and camp friends – people from all areas of their lives, filled the room. Everyone then filed outside for dinner, before it was discovered that Andy Warhol had been murdered!

The first murder mystery party in December 2018 was spurred by a trip to see the film “Clue” at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery’s series of summer movie nights. Taken by the concept of a murder mystery, the duo set out to create their own memorable bash. And in the last five years since they began, they’ve even planned a murder mystery for-hire for some friends at Brown University.

“It’s so rare to have an event where everyone is interacting and on the same page with a common goal in mind,” Kate said. “And especially one where you dress in costume and be silly.”

After each guest revealed their motive, the sisters split us into three groups, where we were sent to different rooms in the house to complete puzzles. Two groups searched through the duo’s bedrooms, one themed out like renaissance-era paintings and one with Mondrian color-blocked walls. Another group searched in the kitchen, transformed into a surrealist fantasy. The puzzles, created from scratch, included finding clues in a book and a clock with numbers that lead guests to decode a sentence that revealed the next part of the mystery. Everything is homemade, detailed, taped together, and drawn – but it’s part of the charm.

“Such a big part of it for me is knowing and showing that we created something ourselves,” Ibby said. “I love knowing what goes into the behind-the-scenes of the art I love, so sharing that with our ‘audience,’ is exciting for us.”

After uncovering the round of puzzles, guests were led to the night’s final location: the Poolhouse. A staple of Ibby and Kate’s childhood, and arguably a staple of their friends’ childhoods, the Poolhouse is their guest house on the property. It’s where music videos are choreographed, new movies are watched, and friends stay up all night chatting and ideating. And, it’s always the last location for each murder mystery’s storyline. This year, the sisters hid the final reveal between books in the library of shelves that line the space. The shelves are filled with volumes of photography books, biographies, classics, children’s books, and, of course, mysteries. The books serve as a physical representation of the O’Carroll family’s nature of curiosity and penchant for escapism to other worlds.

A guest exclaimed, finding the final clue after nearly thirty minutes of searching – it was a well-hidden clue. All of us gathered around as we questioned each of the accused, finally discovering the identity of the murderer. Everyone clapped, worn out from a night of no-joke riddle-solving and method-style character acting. We all took pictures in costume, for the Third Sister Instagram, of course, before digging into a themed cake decorated like a Mondrian painting.

After a successful party, the O’Carrolls will reflect. They comment on what went well, appreciating and critiquing their own work, just as they do with the works of their muses. The sisters share a style and sensibility that allows them to function “with one brain,” as they describe. They possess visions that are consistently aligned. The two barely fight or even bicker. There’s a warmth to their dynamic, even when they interrupt the other to answer a question.

As the older sibling, there’s a sense of Ibby setting the tone. In reality, she did. Ibby attended The Buckley School in Sherman Oaks from kindergarten through senior year; so did Kate. Ibby studied Latin from seventh grade until her senior year; Kate also spent her years learning the dead language. Ibby attended Columbia University and graduated in 2021; Kate went there too, graduating in 2023. Now, both sisters work in the entertainment industry. Even though it seems Ibby has forged the path, they have equality in their partnership.

“We love cultural criticism, and we also love normal criticism,” Kate said. “Growing up, we would always critique what the other was saying midway through telling a story as if we were writing something. We’d give each other notes on how to say something in a funnier way.”

“Yeah, when we do these music videos or parties, we’re essentially performing for each other and the approval of each other because we are each other’s most important critic,” Ibby added. “Creating together is an act of love for each other.

Ibby tells me about Jane Austen and her sister, Cassandra Austen. In the 1840s, the elderly Cassandra read each letter she’d received from her sister Jane one last time before burning their correspondence in a fire. History remembers Cassandra as the jealous, less-famous Austen, angrily burning her sister’s beautiful prose. In reality, historians have discovered that Cassandra burned letters that contained paragraphs of personal details and anecdotes. The letters were simply two sisters trying to impress each other.

Ibby smiled at Kate. “Jane and Cassandra are definitely spiritual forebears of Third Sister.”

1. Pre-BRAT, I might add!

2. You can spot them in the front row in her special on Netflix!