Ariana Richards
| Ariana Richards | |
|---|---|
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| Birth name | Ariana Clarice Richards |
| Born | September 11 1979 Healdsburg, California, U.S.A. |
| Occupation | actress, singer, painter |
Ariana Clarice Richards (born September 11, 1979 in Healdsburg, California) is an American actress and professional painter.
Acting
Richards made her movie debut in 1987's Into the Homeland, a made-for-cable release that starred Powers Boothe. Her most notable appearance was as Lex Murphy in the first Jurassic Park film; she reprised the role very briefly in the sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Similarly, she appeared as Mindy Sterngood in the first Tremors film and reprised her role in the second sequel Tremors 3: Back to Perfection, which went straight to video.
She has been featured in other films such as Angus, where she played a bulimic girl; she has also appeared on television episodes of The Golden Girls, Empty Nest, and Boy Meets World.
When casting for the roles of Tim and Lex in Jurassic Park, director Steven Spielberg casted Joseph Mazzello for the part of Tim Murphy, but because Joseph was younger for the role (Joseph was nine years old at the time and in the book, Tim was eleven years old), Steven recognised problems with the idea of casting a much younger actress to play Alexis "Lex" Murphy as she would have to be about four years old and it would have presented too many problems for the movie. The ages of Tim and Lex were reversed, so that Lex was now older than Tim. Ariana Richards was invited to read for the role of Lex after Steven spotted her Young Artist Award winning performance in Switched at Birth. Steven expressed an interest in hearing how well Ariana could scream. Putting her in a room, the casting director recorded Ariana's screams for three minutes, after which it satisfied Spielberg that she was right for the part. Steven Spielberg claimed that he had never heard realistic screams like that since "Fay Wray from King Kong".
Ariana was the first person to have her face placed onto a stunt double's head using Computer-Generated Imagery. This was due to when her stunt double had accidentally looked at the camera during filming of Jurassic Park.
Richards is rumored to be reappearing as Lex Murphy in Jurassic Park IV, due out sometime in 2008.[1]
Several websites rumored that she would be up for a small role in the slasher remake Black Christmas, in which she would have had her eyes gouged out. But according to questions posted by her fans on her official acting website, Ariana denied any involvement with it.
As well as movies, in 1998, Ariana had appeared in the music video "Brick" by Ben Folds Five, portraying a High School student having an abortion.
Richards recently appeared in the latest issue (September 2006) of UK Movie Magazine Empire discussing a possible return to acting.
Art career
Richards attended Skidmore College, earning a B.S. Degree in Fine Art and Drama, with distinction. She continued with instruction at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.
Richards has become a successful artist; many of her paintings are on display at the Lee Youngman Galleries in Calistoga, California, as well as at Willow Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona. Her paintings, usually of landscapes and figures, tend to be in the style of the impressionists. In October 2005, she was awarded with the first place prize in the National Professional Oil Painting Competition sponsored by American Artist Magazine. The painting that had won Ariana the prize was titled 'Lady of the Dahlias', which her younger sister, Bethany Richards had modelled for (Bethany had also appeared in films and had played the younger versions of Ariana's characters in Angus and Switched at Birth).
Music career
Ariana released her only album in 1993 on the Pony Canyon label in Japan. The album was a mix between teen-pop and dance friendly ballads of the early-1990s. There was also a single released in very small volume of one of the main tracks on the Album. Only released in Japan, Ariana tried to get the album out in Europe, with new songs attached to the release, but the deal fell through and the project was abandoned. Ariana, along with her mother Darielle Richards, wrote the words to the forth track "You're the Reason".
First Love contained the following tracks:
- 1. Anyone Can See
- 2. You Made a Promise
- 3. First Love
- 4. You're the Reason
- 5. I Think I Love You
- 6. The Very Thought of You
- 7. Message to my Fans - This was not a song track but a spoken "thank you" by Ariana.
Awards on Film and Television
- Favourite Newcomer - Japan: Jurassic Park (1994)
- Favourite Newcomer - Australia: Jurassic Park (1994)
- Favourite Newcomer - United Kingdom: Jurassic Park (1994)
- The Bambi Award: Jurassic Park (1993)
- Young Artist Award - Best Young Actress in a Motion Picture: Jurassic Park (1993)
- Young Artist Award - Best Young Actress in a Television Movie: Locked Up: A Mother's Rage (1992)
- Young Artist Award - Best Young Actress in a Television Movie: Switched At Birth (1991)
Filmography
- Tremors 3: Back to Perfection (2001) .... Mindy Sterngood
- Race Against Fear: A Moment of Truth Movie (1998) .... Mickey Carlyle
- The Princess Stallion (1997) .... Sarah Stewart
- The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) .... Alexis "Lex" Murphy
- Born Free: A New Adventure (1996) .... Val Porter
- Angus (1995) .... Melissa Lefevre
- Jurassic Park (1993) .... Alexis "Lex" Murphy
- Grand Tour: Disaster in Time (1992) .... Hillary Wilson
- Against Her Will: An Incident in Baltimore (1992) .... Nancy
- Locked Up: A Mother's Rage (1991) .... Kelly Gallagher
- Switched at Birth (1991) .... Kimberly Mays, Age 9-11
- Spaced Invaders (1990) .... Kathy
- The Incident (1990) .... Nancy
- Tremors (1990) .... Mindy Sterngood
- Prancer (1989) .... Carol Wetherby
- Face of the Enemy (1989) .... Voice Over
- I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988) .... Little Girl
- Into the Homeland (1987) .... Ember Swallow, Age 5 & 7
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
