The Stunning Transformation Of Haley Lu Richardson
Actress Haley Lu Richardson is taking Hollywood by storm. While the Arizona native has been on the scene for a while, her career exploded when she starred in HBO's fan-favorite series "The White Lotus." Over the years, Richardson has proved she can nail any role, no matter the genre; tear-jerking dramas like "Columbus," light-hearted romantic comedies like "Love at First Sight," or bone-chilling thrillers like "Split."
It took Richardson years to land her big break, but that's exactly what she's grateful for. "I've had this slow, steady burn that I'm kind of appreciative for, because I feel like it's given me space to really make mistakes," she told The Guardian, explaining that it would have been hard to land a massive role so early in her career. "It's like, where do you go from there, you know? How do you top that? And not just on a level of how others view you, and how you're perceived, but also the fulfillment. I hope my whole career is just a steady build."
So how did Richardson go from landing minor TV roles in TV shows to starring in the most talked about shows and movies of the year? We've broken down her stunning transformation, from backup dancer to Hollywood it-girl.
She started dancing at the age of 3
Haley Lu Richardson was born on March 7, 1995, in Phoenix, Arizona. Her mother was a graphic designer and her father was a golf course architect. For middle school, she attended Villa Montessori school, which replaced formal teaching methods with independent learning. She then enrolled in Arcadia High School, which has famous alumni like Steven Spielberg.
Richardson started showing signs that she would pursue a career in the arts from a young age. "I always wanted to perform somehow," she told The Los Angeles Daily News. "I was just a ham when I was a kid. Any of my cousins will tell you they all hated me because I took all the attention — like, very forcefully — at every Christmas dinner."
When she was 3 years old, Richardson started jazz and tap dancing lessons, and started competing in regional competitions in high school. "Dance has been a huge grounding thing for me because I feel so deeply," she told People. "It's very cathartic to be able to connect your body to those emotions that I feel."
Dance is still a huge part of Richardson's life today. She even teaches dance classes every Wednesday. "One day I'll do a jazz class; one day I'll do a really emo lyrical dance. This week I did a burlesque class and we all dressed up with feather boas," she told Glamour.
She moved to LA at 16
When she was just 16 years old, Haley Lu Richardson moved to LA with her mom to pursue her dream of being a dancer and actress. She dropped out of high school, opting to take the California High School Proficiency Examination to get her diploma. "It was nuts because I was so sure of what I wanted, but there was no real reason why I should have been so sure or so sure in myself," the actress told People. "I just had an intense feeling that's what I was supposed to be doing: dancing and acting. I honestly was just a girl with a dream."
However, her entry into Hollywood was not an easy one. She had no connections or any idea of how the industry worked. Richardson recalls a time a director screamed at her in front of the entire crew. "I was standing there sobbing for at least 20 minutes," she told Glamour.
Richardson eventually booked a gig as a backup dancer on the Disney show "Shake It Up" which starred Zendaya and Bella Thorne. According to Richardson, her dancing background helped prepare her for the acting world. "It's just such a vulnerable, abandoned thing," she told Backstage. "The first time I really felt like I was acting was actually through dance."
She landed supporting roles in movies like Edge of Seventeen and Split
Haley Lu Richardson's career started with minor TV and movie roles. In 2013, she landed the recurring role of Tess in the "Pretty Little Liars" spin-off "Ravenswood" and starred in the lifetime movie "Escape from Polygamy" alongside "How To Get Away With Murder" star Jack Falahee. In 2014, she starred in the post-apocalyptic film "The Last Survivors," where her character fights for water in a world where the resource is scarce.
Her career got a big boost in 2016 when she played supporting roles in bigger box-office films. In the teen flick "Edge of Seventeen" starring Hailee Steinfeld, Richardson plays Steinfeld's best friend who starts dating her brother. In M. Night Shyamalan's horror movie "Split," she plays one of the victims kidnapped by James McAvoy's character, who has dissociative identity disorder.
Richardson's role in "Split" had a deep impact on her, causing her to turn down the leading part in the horror movie "Midsommar," which then went to Florence Pugh. "I was like, I don't want to do another disturbing movie right now. I just don't have it in me, going around and crying at these disturbing things," she told Far Out Magazine. Despite the unprecedented success of the movie, Richardson has no regrets. "I do think that everything happens the way that it's supposed to. There was a reason I didn't have it in me. And also, Florence Pugh is just such a good actor."
In 2014, she opened an Etsy shop where she sells her designs
Haley Lu Richardson can do it all. The actress has been crocheting since she was 8, and in 2014 she opened up an Etsy shop to sell her handmade designs, called "Hooked by Haley Lu." Some of the items include rainbow bucket hats, scrunchies, beanies, crop tops, and dresses, but as she told The Cut, "I can pretty much crochet anything." When the pandemic hit in 2020, she tried her hand at beading, selling chunky necklaces and bracelets on her site, too. "The last time I posted a bunch of necklaces and scrunchies, they sold out in like a half an hour," she said.
Though her store is doing well, profits aren't the reason she loves crafting: It's a way for her to express herself creatively without any pressure. "I'm not judging myself with the crocheting. I don't feel like anyone's judging me with my crocheting, and if they are, that's weird," she said. "With dance and acting, I'm so hard on myself that sometimes I lose sight of the pure enjoyment and that pure love and creative expression."
One of Richardson's designs even made a cameo on the show "The White Lotus" — a white bucket hat worn by her character Portia. "I really pushed for it to be Portia's little vacation hat. And so, you all can thank me for that one," she told the Los Angeles Times, seemingly acknowledging the backlash Portia's quintessentially Gen Z wardrobe received.
In 2017, she was nominated for an award for her role in Columbus
Haley Lu Richardson's breakout role is arguably Casey in the movie "Colombus," which premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. It was the directorial debut of Korean-American filmmaker Koganda. Set in Columbus, Indiana, the film follows the unlikely friendship between teenage Casey and Jin, a middle-aged South Korean man, who are both taking care of their ailing parents. A common thread throughout the film is architecture; Casey is an aspiring architect, Jin is the son of a famous architect, and the entire film is an ode to the town's Modernist buildings and the healing power of architecture.
Critics labeled Richardson's performance as "outstanding" and "superb," and she was even nominated for a Gotham Award for Best Actress. Not only did the role put Richardson on the map, but the actress said it was her favorite creative experience. She had equal praise for the movie itself. "I'm saying this in the least narcissistic, self-indulgent way possible, but it's actually one of my favorite movies I've ever seen," Richardson told The Daily Beast. "That was the first time I was ever like, 'Oh my god, I was invited to be a part of art.' Kogonada saw me as an artist, like a collaborator. The whole energy of making that movie was really the first time I was invited to make art and be an artist."
She proposed to her longtime boyfriend, Brett Dier, in 2018
In 2012, Haley Lu Richardson met "Jane the Virgin" star Brett Dier while they were both working on the TV show "Ravenswood." The pair dated for several years, sharing loved-up selfies on Instagram with their fans. "My favorite girl in the world and I. Throwback Thursday," wrote Dier on Instagram in 2016.
They got engaged in 2018, and it was actually Richardsson who proposed. The actress explained that she was motivated by a gut feeling in the moment, which happened at a strip mall. "I just asked. Neither of us are, like, crazy romantic people, so nothing was planned," she said on "Busy Tonight." "He was sitting there eating a pizza and he was telling me a joke that Shia LaBeouf had said in an interview, and he was, like, pretending to be Shia LaBeouf explaining this joke and for some reason I just cut him off and was like, 'Wanna marry me?' Maybe that got us in the mood, I don't know. But yeah, we're engaged now."
Because the proposal was so spontaneous, the couple crafted makeshift rings out of twigs from a nearby bush. Once they got proper engagement rings, they had them engraved with the image of a twig. Dier was also clearly supportive of Richardson's career, posting a sweet Instagram tribute when she was nominated for an MTV Movie + TV award. "HALEY WAS NOMINATED FOR BREAKTHROUGH ARTIST!! So proud of you honey!" he captioned the post.
In 2022, her role as Portia in White Lotus took her career to new heights
"Columbus" may have been Haley Lu Ricardson's big break, but her role in HBO's "The White Lotus" is what skyrocketed her name to Hollywood it-girl. Richardson plays the nihilistic Portia, who spends her time complaining about being in Sicily for work and wearing mismatched Gen-Z outfits to symbolize how lost she is in the world. Portia is arguably the internet's least favorite character from the show, which Richardson finds surprising considering that the other characters are womanizers, cheats, and murderers. As for Portia's controversial wardobe, Richardson calls it beautiful self-expression and admits she took one of the pieces without asking.
It's clear Richardson is a Portia stan. In a world where perceptions and self-worth are deeply impacted by curated virtual platforms, Richardson believes a lot of people her age can relate to the character's dissatisfaction with her life. "There's that struggle to find fulfillment when your expectations of the world are created by the time you spend on these apps. It can make you look at what you are doing and feel like a pile of s***," she told Harper's Bazaar. In fact, Richardson herself related to Portia more than she expected. "[Portia is constantly] wanting more and [looks] outward for fulfillment, [and] since playing her, I've never been more hungry to feel fulfilled with inspiration and creativity and projects. I feel that so deeply, in a way that almost makes me miserable," she said.
She split from her fiance, Brett Dier, but got through it
After almost a decade together, Haley Lu Richardson and Brett Dier called off their engagement. The actress took her time to heal before announcing the split, which came almost two years after it happened. "Hey guys. This is me and Brett. We actually separated two years ago," she wrote on her Instagram story in 2022, alongside a picture of her and Dier together (via People).
Speaking to People, Richardson opened up about the heartbreak, but also what it taught her about her own resilience. "It was hard, but I got through it — that's important and what matters," she said, adding, "The perspective of time to be able to be like, 'Wow, I got through that, and I was capable of getting through something like that, and I'm capable of being on my own.'"
Richardson's ability to heal and move on is probably due to how in touch she is with her feelings. The actress explained that she's been going to therapy for several years, but admits she should have started way earlier. Therapy is also perhaps why Richardson can be so vulnerable with her fans. In 2023, she took to Instagram to share that she'd been experiencing a painful couple of months. The fact that her post received almost 200,00 likes helped her feel less alone. "I felt like I was getting hugs from everyone," she said.
In 2019 she starred in Five Feet Apart opposite Cole Sprouse
If you haven't seen the movie "Five Feet Apart," make sure you get the tissues ready when you do. Haley Lu Richardson and "Riverdale" actor Cole Sprouse play two teenagers who fall in love but must remain five feet apart due to them both having cystic fibrosis. Richardson was serious about accurately portraying such a sensitive topic. To prepare for the role, she hung out with a girl who has cystic fibrosis named Claire Wineland, who Richardson said was open about her experience and answered every question she had. "Besides learning about the logistics like the machines and how they work, it was learning about how it affects you as a person growing up with that, spending that time in the hospital and what that imminent mortality from being a baby is like, what kind of pressure that puts on your life and the relationships in your life and how you look at things," she told The Hollywood Reporter.
Despite filming a movie about such a devastating topic, Richardson said the actors had fun making it. "Bringing joy and life to these characters, it just goes to show that these kids and people who have cystic fibrosis, they live their life anyway," she told Cosmopolitan.
In 2023, she starred in a Jonas Brothers music video
Talk about manifesting your dreams! Haley Lu Richardson, a Jonas Brothers mega-fan, once said that a reason she became an actor was to become famous enough to meet the Jonas Brothers. Well, she got more than just a meeting.
It all started when Richardson appeared on "The Late Night Show With James Corden." A fan since she was 12, Richardson has attended a total of 15 Jonas Brothers concerts. Gushing about the band to Corden, she recalled standing in line for four hours at a meet and greet, holding a tie she made for Nick Jonas, which was confiscated by security. Corden then surprised Richardson with a Facetime call from Nick Jonas, who invited her to bring another tie to one of his shows. Jonas delivered on his promise, as seen in an Instagram post by Richardson. "Dreams really do come true," read the caption, showing a picture of Richards gifting Nick a tie.
But that wasn't the biggest Jonas-related surprise in store for Richardson. "Joe [Jonas] called me. Joe called my cell phone, my actual cell phone," she gushed to "Today," recounting the moment he invited her to star in their music video "Wings." In the video, Richardson puts her dancing background to good use as she prances around a hotel room before eventually meeting all three of her heroes in an elevator. "This was the most surreal day of my entire existence. im so thankful," she wrote on Instagram.
She starred in a Netflix romcom, Love at First Sight
In 2023, Haley Lu Richardson starred in the film "Love at First Sight," which has been hailed as one of the best romcoms to hit Netflix in a while. Based on the book "The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight" by Jennifer E. Smith, the film follows two strangers who fall in love on a flight to London but get separated after landing. They begin the seemingly impossible quest to find each other again, and of course, fate intervenes. "It's a fun and sweet movie about romance, but at its heart I think it's really a story about facing truths. And how when we finally face our truths, fate is able to do her job," Richardson told People.
"Bohemian Rhapsody" actor Ben Hady plays Richardson's charming, British love interest. "They were great together immediately," director Vanessa Caswill told Glamour. "Haley Lu loved him. And as soon as we got off [Zoom], she messaged me and said, 'He's just amazing.' He's really grounded and sweet and gentle, and she's so warm and quirky. The combination balances out brilliantly."