Birth Name: Dakota Blue Richards

Category: Actress

Born: April 11, 1994

Location: Brighton, England, UK

Astrological Sign: Aries

Zodiac Year: Dog

Age: 14

Height: 5' 1½" (1.56 m)

Grade Level: Year 10 (2008-2009)

Hair: Brown

Eyes: Brown

Filmography:
The Secret of Moonacre (2008) .... Maria
The Golden Compass (2007) .... Lyra Belacqua

Biography:
Dakota Blue Richards (born 11 April 1994) is an English actress from Brighton, most notable for her role as Lyra Belacqua in the upcoming film His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass. She was chosen from 10,000 hopefuls who attended auditions in Cambridge, Oxford, Exeter and Kendal. Richards had acted in amateur productions before, and director Chris Weitz was sure about her: "Usually, it's a gut-wrenching decision...You realize the whole time how much rests on the shoulders of this kid. But I didn't have any doubts about Dakota. She looks not quite tamed, and that's Lyra."
Author Philip Pullman agreed, "I'm delighted with the casting of Dakota Blue Richards as Lyra. As soon as I saw Dakota's screen test, I realized that the search was over. Dakota has just the combination of qualities that make up the complicated character of this girl, and I very much look forward to seeing the film take shape, with Dakota's Lyra at the heart of it."
She had just come home grumpy from a bad day at school when 'The Golden Compass' director Chris Weitz called her. Dakota's mother tried to put him on speaker phone, but accidentally hung up on him. Weitz called back and informed them of the good news. Dakota was previously attending k-bis theatre school where she had drama, musical theatre, singing, jazz tap and ballet lessons.
Dakota later said she found out about the auditions watching BBC Newsround, and that she wouldn?t have gone to them if it had rained.

Trivia:
Ten thousand girls turned up for open auditions in Cambridge, Oxford, Exeter and Kendal for the role of Lyra Belacqua in the adaptation of 'His Dark Materials: Northen Lights'. In June 2006, twelve-year-old Dakota, a Londoner schoolgirl, was awarded the part after the casting directors' took a shine to her in the Cambridge auditions.
Her mother is an American anthropologist.
Traveled from her home in Brighton to Cambridge for the Lyra auditions under one condition: that she wouldn't be too upset if she was passed over.
She had just come home grumpy from a bad day at school when 'The Golden Compass' director Chris Weitz called her. Dakota's mother tried to put him on speaker phone, but accidentally hung up on him. Weitz called back and informed them of the good news.
Her name, Dakota, means "friend" in the language of the Dakota (A North American Aboriginal tribe, who are native to the Mississippi).
Before being awarded the role of Lyra in "The Golden Compass", she was a fan of the His Dark Materials series, having read the books and gone to see the stage play in London.
The makers of The Golden Compass sent Philip Pullman (Author of His Dark Materials trilogy) footage of their 40 favored girls who'd auditioned for the role of Lyra. He personally endorsed the two that he favored, one of them being Dakota Blue.
Beat out over 10,000 girls who went to the open casting calls in Cambridge, Oxford, Exeter, and Kendal for the role of Lyra.

Fan Mail Address:
Dakota Blue Richards
Scholastic Media
557 Broadway
New York, NY 10012
USA

External Links:
IMDb
Wikipedia