Dakota Blue Richards
{{short description|British actress (born 1994)}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| image = File:Dakota Blue Richards portrait, 2012 (portrait crop).jpg
| caption = Richards in 2012
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1994|04|11|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Chelsea, London, England
| occupation = Actress
| years_active = 2006–present
}}
Dakota Blue Richards (born 11 April 1994) is an English actress. Her film debut at the age of 13 was in The Golden Compass, as the lead character Lyra Belacqua.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_5120000/newsid_5128500/5128532.stm |title= Lyra cast in Dark Materials film |date=29 June 2006|publisher=CBBC Newsround}}{{cite news |url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,1809554,00.html |title=Dark Materials film gets green light |date=30 June 2006|newspaper=The Guardian | location=London | first=Charlotte | last=Higgins}} Other lead roles include the wayward teenager April in Dustbin Baby and Maria in the 2009 film The Secret of Moonacre.{{cite web|url=http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=3&id=45952 |title=Richards Returns in Moonacre |date=3 December 2007|publisher=SciFi Wire |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080203093713/http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=3&id=45952 |archive-date=3 February 2008 |url-status=dead}} In 2011, she played Franky Fitzgerald in the third generation cast of British teen drama Skins. She has also played roles in television, film and on stage.
Early life and education
Richards was born on 11 April 1994 at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in the Fulham Road, London. The family moved to Sussex, where she attended Newlands School. She attended St Paul's Primary School in Brighton,{{cite journal |author = Acford, Louise | date = 16 January 2009 | title = Star bullied for her ginger hair | journal = The Argus | location = London | url=https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/4052953.star-bullied-for-her-ginger-hair/ }} and later Blatchington Mill School in Hove and KBis Theatre School in Brighton.
Career
=''The Golden Compass''=
After seeing the stage adaptation of His Dark Materials at the National Theatre, she says she "just wanted to be Lyra".{{cite news |url=http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/0,,2219107,00.html |title=The calm before the storm |date=30 November 2007|newspaper=The Guardian | location=London}} The audition process had ten thousand applicants, and Philip Pullman (author of the books) said, "As soon as I saw Dakota's screen test, I realised that the search was over."{{cite news |url=http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1808763,00.html |title=Lyra found for $150m Dark Materials film |date=29 June 2006|newspaper=The Guardian | location=London | first=Lindesay | last=Irvine}} Chris Weitz, the director, added that Richards "made what should have been an extremely difficult decision quite easy." The Golden Compass with Richards as Lyra was released worldwide in December 2007 and grossed $372 million.
Richards' performance in The Golden Compass was variously described as "efficient",{{cite news |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/film_reviews/article2961371.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516213904/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/film_reviews/article2961371.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 May 2008 |title=The Golden Compass |date=2 December 2007|newspaper=The Sunday Times | location=London | first=Cosmo | last=Landesman}} "a decent job",{{cite magazine |url= http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=134647 |title=The Golden Compass |date=5 December 2007|magazine=Empire magazine}} "nicely played",{{cite news |url = https://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/nov/30/danielcraig.nicolekidman |title = The Golden Compass|date = 30 November 2007|newspaper = The Guardian|location = London|first = Peter|last = Bradshaw}} and "enchanting." One review called the selection of Richards for the role of Lyra "terrific casting".{{cite news |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/film_reviews/article2956068.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516005046/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/film_reviews/article2956068.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 May 2008 |title=The Golden Compass |date=27 November 2007|newspaper=The Times | location=London | first=James | last=Christopher}} Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian commented "Lyra is nicely played by 13-year-old newcomer Dakota Blue Richards, though with an Artful Dodger-ish 'urchin' accent that comes and goes a bit", while Empire noted that she "struggles with lumpy dialogue". Roger Ebert was more effusive, calling Richards "a delightful find" who was "pretty, plucky, forceful, self-possessed, charismatic and just about plausible as the mistress of an armored bear and the protector of Dust."{{cite web|first=Roger|last=Ebert|url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20071206%2FREVIEWS%2F712060302|title=The Golden Compass|work=Chicago Sun-Times|date=7 December 2007|access-date=10 April 2012|archive-date=31 October 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101031093653/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20071206%2FREVIEWS%2F712060302|url-status=dead}}
=''Skins''=
Richards appeared in series 5 and 6 of the E4 teen drama Skins, which premiered on 27 January 2011. She played the character of Franky Fitzgerald with her androgynous looks, wacky dress sense, two gay dads (one played by John Sessions) and a tragic cyber-bullying backstory.{{Cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/thursdays-tv-skins-260dmwfwpsm|title=Thursday's TV: Skins|last=Chater|first=David|newspaper=The Times |access-date=2020-02-01|language=en|issn=0140-0460}} Originally she auditioned for the role of Liv, and in an interview explained "only became Franky right at the very end of the audition process".{{cite news |title=Dakota Blue Richards plays Franky|url=http://www.channel4.com/info/press/press-packs/dakota-blue-richards-plays-franky|publisher= Channel 4 Press Info|date=Jan 2011}} As a member of the third generation of its young cast, Richards said "It's crazy to be part of this Skins phenomenon, it's as much a lifestyle choice as anything because of the attention that comes with it."{{cite book | author = Molloy, Kate | year = 2012 | title = Skins A-Z | chapter = D is for... | page = 2 (of chapter) | publisher = John Blake Publishing | isbn = 9781857826982 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=yw2Zrs3Okw0C&q=D+is+for}}
=''ChickLit''=
In this full-length film, Richards plays a protagonist's sister-in-law, cajoled into acting the role of author of a chick-lit novel written by four patrons of a local pub in Norfolk. The character, Zoe, demands £500 a week for as long as the four true authors need her. The film is an erotic British comedy.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}
=Other roles=
{{multiple image
| width=250
| direction = vertical
| image1= Dustbin Baby- April and Marion.jpg
| caption1= Richards (left) as April with Marion (played by Juliet Stevenson) in Dustbin Baby
| image2 = Dustbin Baby- April in the graveyard.jpg
| caption2 = Richards in Dustbin Baby
}}
Before The Golden Compass was released, Richards had already been cast as the lead in another film, The Secret of Moonacre, her second book-to-film adaptation, in which she would play Maria Merryweather from the book The Little White Horse. Principal photography began in October 2007{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/starsandstories/3669596/Dakota-Blue-Richards-The-13-year-old-poised-to-conquer-the-world.html |title=Dakota Blue Richards: The 13-year-old poised to conquer the world |date=30 November 2007|newspaper=The Telegraph | location=London | first=Will | last=Lawrence}}{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7020000/newsid_7024500/7024571.stm |title= Lyra actress Dakota gets new role |date=2 October 2007|publisher=CBBC Newsround}} and the film was eventually released February 2009.
In December 2008, Richards played April Johnson in Dustbin Baby, the BBC dramatisation of the Jacqueline Wilson novel of the same name. She described April as a difficult character to play, "she is a really different person to me. On the one hand, she does go through normal things that I can relate to, such as fighting with your parents or getting presents you don't like; but on the other, she has had such a hard life."{{cite news |first= Bernadette|last= McNulty|title= Dustbin Baby|url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/3851819/Dustbin-Baby.html|newspaper= The Telegraph|date= 19 December 2008| location=London}}
In April 2012, she performed a British indie feature The Fold in Bristol and Cornwall, playing Eloise, the daughter of an Anglican priest. The film is written by Poppy Cogan, winner of the Harpers/William Morris Short Script Award, and directed by John Jencks. It commercially opened in limited release in UK on 24 March 2014.{{citation needed|date=June 2019}} The movie won best screenplay at the Women's Independent Festival in LA, Best Picture at the Independent Film Makers Showcase and was nominated for best drama at the National Film Awards.{{Cite web|url=http://www.jtmanagement.co.uk/clients/poppy-cogan/|title=Poppy Cogan|date=2017-02-02|website=JTM|language=en-GB}}
Richards played a title role in ITV thriller Lightfields alongside Jill Halfpenny and Kris Marshall. It is a supernatural five-part drama which follows on from the ITV drama Marchlands and tells the story of three families living in the same house with a ghost during different time periods.{{cite news |title=Jill Halfpenny to star in ITV's Lightfields|url=http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/newsstory.php/37177/jill-halfpenny-to-star-in-itvs-lightfields|publisher= thestage|date=29 August 2012}}
In 2013, she appeared in French filmmaker Stéphanie Joalland's sci-fi thriller The Quiet Hour, about a brother and sister trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic England. During the same year she filmed a short film entitled Girl Power.{{cite news|url=http://www.asff.co.uk/interview-with-dakota-blue-richards/|title=Interview with Dakota Blue Richards|access-date=9 April 2014|publisher=ASFF|archive-date=25 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160925111645/http://www.asff.co.uk/interview-with-dakota-blue-richards/|url-status=dead}}
Richards made her stage debut in an ensemble cast featuring Kirsty Besterman, Robert Cavanah, Flora Montgomery, Wilf Scolding, Nakay Kpaka, and Ria Zmitrowicz in English Touring Theatre's 2015 revival of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia.{{cite web |url=http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/production/2014/12/dakota-blue-richards-make-stage-debut-touring-arcadia-revival/ |title=Dakota Blue Richards to make stage debut in touring Arcadia revival|date=17 December 2014|publisher=The Stage News|first=David|last=Hutchison}}
Between 2016 and 2018 she was cast in the part of WPC Shirley Trewlove in the Endeavour television series. In 2018, she was cast for the part of Margaret Osborne in the ITV drama Beecham House.{{cite news |last1=Ling |first1=Thomas |title=ITV announces star-studded period drama Beecham House |url=https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2018-08-20/itv-announces-star-studded-period-drama-beecham-house/|work=Radio Times |date=20 August 2018 |language=en}} It began airing in 2019.
Personal life
Richards revealed that as a young actress, she "suffered at the hands of school bullies because of her ginger hair".
In 2008, she attended the "Our Space" camp of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (in the Lake District), which gathered "teenagers from different backgrounds to discuss human rights and discrimination". Since 2010 she has supported Action for Children, a charity in the United Kingdom helping vulnerable young people overcome injustice and deprivation. In 2011, she fronted their advertising campaign to promote a new charity project.{{cite news|title=Action for Children Launch|url=http://www.actionforchildren.org.uk/news/archive/2011/february/my-action-for-children-launch|publisher=Action for Children|date=8 February 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140809155111/http://www.actionforchildren.org.uk/news/archive/2011/february/my-action-for-children-launch|archive-date=9 August 2014}}{{Citation|last=Dakota BlueSource|title=Dakota Blue Richards talks through My Action for Children|date=2015-07-16|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks9sfRhz0uE |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211219/ks9sfRhz0uE |archive-date=2021-12-19 |url-status=live}}{{cbignore}}
Richards also backs The Young Actors Group, an acting school in Brighton opened in 2014 that gives children and teenagers the training to work professionally in stage and screen.{{cite news |title=Dakota Blue Richards Helps New Brighton Acting School To Search for the Next 'Golden' Star|url=http://magazine.brighton.co.uk/Theatre-&-Comedy/Coming-Up/Dakota_Blue_Richards_Helps_New_Brighton_Acting_School_To_Search_For_The_Next_Golden_Star/30_66_4116|first=Mike|last=Cobley|publisher=The Brighton Magazine|date=8 July 2014}}
Richards describes herself as "quite into modern art and abstract stuff" and a fan of photographer Christian Coigny, artists Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst, and films from Studio Ghibli.
Filmography
=Film=
| class="wikitable sortable"
|+Film appearances of Dakota Blue Richards | ||
| scope="col"| Year
!scope="col"| Title !scope="col"| Role !scope="col" class="unsortable"|Notes | ||
|---|---|---|
| scope="row"| 2007
| The Golden Compass || Lyra Belacqua ||Debut role | ||
| scope="row"| 2008
| The Secret of Moonacre || Maria Merryweather || | ||
| scope="row"| 2009
| Five Miles Out || Cassey || Short film | ||
| scope="row" rowspan="3"| 2014
| The Fold || Eloise Ashton || | ||
| The Quiet Hour | Sarah | |
| Girl Power | Cassey | Short film |
| scope="row"| 2016
| ChickLit || Zoe || Feature film |
=Television=
| class="wikitable sortable"
|+Television appearances of Dakota Blue Richards |
| scope="col"| Year
!scope="col"| Title !scope="col"| Role !scope="col" class="unsortable"|Notes |
|---|
| scope="row"| 2008
| Dustbin Baby || April Johnson || Television film |
| scope="row"| 2011–2012
| Skins || Franky Fitzgerald || 18 episodes |
| scope="row"| 2013
| Lightfields || Eve || 5 episodes |
| scope="row"| 2016–2018
| Endeavour || WPC Shirley Trewlove || 13 episodes |
| scope="row"| 2019
| Beecham House || Margaret Osborne || 6 episodes |
| scope="row"| 2023
| Celebrity Mastermind || Herself || episode #21.11 |
Stage
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| scope="col"| Year
!scope="col"| Title !scope="col"| Role !scope="col" class="unsortable"| Notes |
|---|
| rowspan=2 | 2015
| Arcadia | Thomasina |
| A Streetcar Named Desire
| Stella | rowspan=2 | Curve, Leicester |
| 2017
| Geraldine |
| 2023
| Anthropology | Angie | Hampstead Theatre, London{{Cite web|url=https://www.theunderstudy.co.uk/2023/09/interview-dakota-blue-richards-on.html|title=Interview: Dakota Blue Richards on anthropology, 'Entirely unlike anything I’ve ever worked on before'|journal=The Understudy|first=Jim|last=Keaveney|date=8 September 2023|accessdate=19 October 2023}} |
Awards and nominations
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
{{Commons category|Dakota Blue Richards}}
- {{IMDb name|2301950|name=Dakota Blue Richards}}
- {{Rotten Tomatoes person|dakota-blue-richards|name=Dakota Blue Richards}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Dakota Blue}}
Category:English child actresses
Category:English film actresses
Category:English television actresses
Category:English stage actresses
Category:Actresses from Sussex
Category:21st-century English actresses
Category:Actresses from London
Category:People from Chelsea, London
Category:Actors from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea