Dakota Blue Richards

Dakota Blue Richards (born 11 April 1994) is an English actress. Her debut was in the film The Golden Compass, as the lead character Lyra Belacqua. She was also cast as the lead of two other films, Dustbin Baby and The Secret of Moonacre, the latter of which was released February 2009. She also played the character Franky Fitzgerald in the third generation of the E4 teen drama Skins. --- Richards was born in South Kensington, London, She was named Dakota Blue because her mother wanted a combination of a place-name and a colour. The family moved to Sussex shortly after Dakota was born. At school she took very few drama classes and she was not an active participant in class assemblies or school plays. She missed out on the part of Mary in the nativity play. She had always enjoyed acting, but considered it "just a fun little hobby thing" and "never really thought [she]'d get into doing it professionally". When she was nine years old, Richards had the His Dark Materials books read to her by her mother, feeling that she could "be her". After she saw the stage adaption at the National Theatre, she says she "just wanted to be Lyra". She received private tutoring from two individual tutors on set, she noted, "I think I actually improved academically from being privately tutored." Philip Pullman, author of the books, said that, "As soon as I saw Dakota's screen test, I realised that the search was over." Chris Weitz, the director, added that Richards "made what should have been an extremely difficult decision quite easy." The film was released worldwide in December 2007. Richards' portrayal in the film was variously described as "efficient", "a decent job", "nicely played" and "enchanting"; one review called her "terrific casting". Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian commented that; "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" and that she "struggles with lumpy dialogue". Pulitzer Prize-winning critic 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 armoured bear and the protector of Dust." --- Dakota Blue Richards resides in Brighton. In her free time she enjoys making art, especially in modern and abstract style. She is said to appreciate very much the photographer Christian Coigny,Tracey Emin's and Damien Hirst's works, Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli films. In music she has often declared herself to be a big fan of Lady Gaga. Since 2010 she supports Action for Children, the first charity in UK to help vulnerable youth break through injustice and deprivation, also supported by many celebrities like Annie Lennox and Yoko Ono. In 2011 she fronted an advertising campaign to promote the new charity project. In 2011 she posed naked for Ocean 2012, a campaign to prevent overfishing. In the shoot naked celebrities (including Ben Kingsley and Lily Loveless) are photographed holding giant fish.