ARIANA RICHARDS
Name: Ariana Clarice Richards
Born: 11 September 1979 Healdsburg, California, U.S.A.
Ariana Richards (born September 11, 1979) is an American actress and
professional painter.
Richards was born Ariana Clarice Richards in Healdsburg, California, the
daughter of Darielle (née Parmelee), a public relations representative and film
producer, and Gary Richards. Her sister, Bethany, is also an actress.
Richards is of Irish and Italian descent, and is a descendant of Renaissance
painter Carlo Crivelli.
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 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 cast 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".
As well as movies, in 1998, Richards had appeared in the music video "Brick" by
Ben Folds Five, portraying a High School student having an abortion. Richards
recently appeared in the September 2006 issue of UK Movie Magazine Empire
discussing a possible return to acting.
Name: Ariana Clarice Richards
Born: 11 September 1979 Healdsburg, California, U.S.A.
Ariana Richards (born September 11, 1979) is an American actress and
professional painter.
Richards was born Ariana Clarice Richards in Healdsburg, California, the
daughter of Darielle (née Parmelee), a public relations representative and film
producer, and Gary Richards. Her sister, Bethany, is also an actress.
Richards is of Irish and Italian descent, and is a descendant of Renaissance
painter Carlo Crivelli.
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 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 cast 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".
As well as movies, in 1998, Richards had appeared in the music video "Brick" by
Ben Folds Five, portraying a High School student having an abortion. Richards
recently appeared in the September 2006 issue of UK Movie Magazine Empire
discussing a possible return to acting.