Haley Lu Richardsongot her start in the entertainment industry not as an actor, but as a dancer. Richardson grew up training in dance and decided to move to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the performing arts at just 16. Without formal acting training or experience, however, Richardson started off with roles as dancers and choreographers, something she already had experience with. She even appeared as a dancer in the Disney Channel dance-themed sitcomShake It Up.
Though she had been acting for several years by that point, Richardson’s big breakthrough in the acting world came fromFive Feet Apartin 2019. It’s not her best film, but it’s one of her best-known because of its appeal to young adult audiences and romance fans. While it’s notable, these are actually her best movie and TV projects in her career.
10The Chaperone (2018)
As Louise Brooks
Most of Haley Lu Richardson’s movies are set firmly in the modern-day. That’s why the rare period piece is a fun find for fans who enjoy seeing Richardson completely disappear into a role.
The Chaperoneis set in the 1920s and seesRichardson play a young woman from Kansas who gets the opportunity to train as a dancer in New York.The catch is that she has to have a chaperone accompany her as it isn’t seen as proper for a young woman to live on her own. A middle-aged woman who sees one of her performances agrees to be her chaperone while she trains and auditions. The experience of living together and seeing New York from two very different points of view changes them.
It’s something special to see Richardson here because, though she has extensive training in dance, not many of her modern roles include dance now. This role feels like the most removed from who she is despite work as a dancer and showcases her skill with movement.
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Love At First Sight
Cast
Love At First Sight is a 2023 romantic comedy by director Vanessa Caswill, based on the novel by Jennifer E. Smith. The film follows Hadley and Oliver, two strangers who meet via a flight to London and share a strong connection until unforeseen circumstances tear them apart. However, fortunately for them, love’s design has other plans.
Inspired bythe novelThe Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight,this movie is a Netflix original. Netflix has been slowly adding young adult dramas to its catalog over the last five years that have really featured some powerhouses of talent, and this is one of them.
Richardson stars as a young woman traveling to England from the United States to attend her father’s wedding.While on the plane, she meets a young man and the two hit it off. Though they talk about nearly everything, they don’t get one another’s exact contact information and then scramble to find their way back to one another.
The love story might be predictable for rom-com fans, but the chemistry is strong, and the smaller threads in the movie are just as charming as the love story playing out.
Split
M. Night Shyamalan’s Split follows Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy), a man with dissociative identity disorder, who kidnaps three teenage girls and imprisons them in an underground facility. When Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy) realizes that she can play Crumb’s personalities against one another, she begins to form a plan for escape before she is sacrificed to a creature he refers to as “the Beast”.
One of the earliest movie roles for Richardson is in the thrillerSplit. The movie is part of M. Night Syamalan’s surprising trilogy that includesUnbreakableandGlassas well.
The movie sees a man kidnap three teenage girls who are waiting for a ride home. As he holds them captive, the girls realize that he has different personalities that manifest, some of whom want to help them, and some of whom want to hurt them. It’s a thriller that takes Dissociative Identity Disorder and frames it in a potentially terrifying way, which meant the movie didn’t land well with those who work in mental health fields.
The performances of the cast, however, which includes Jessica Sula, Anya Taylor-Joy, and James MacAvoy, were praised. Most of the attention was paid to Taylor-Joy and MacAvoy, but Sula and Richardson deserve their praise for holding their own in their scenes as well.
The White Lotus
The White Lotus is a television series that explores the interactions of guests and staff at an upscale tropical resort. Premiering in 2021, the narrative unfolds over a week, revealing underlying complexities and tensions among the resort’s seemingly ideal travelers and employees.
The White Lotusacts as something of an anthology series so most of the cast is new with each season of the show. Richardson appears in season 2 as Portia, the assistant to Jennifer Coolidge’s Tanya, who is the most-remembered character of the season.
Richardson’s Portia is a divisive character, but seemingly meant to be a portrait of Gen Z, someone who is smart, makes bold choices in certain areas (like fashion), but also feels a sense of emptiness that leaves her listless. She’s confident, but cannot declutter her own life or get herself together. She’s someone on the verge of a coming-of-age story who hasn’t quite got there just yet.
The White Lotusseason 2 received 12 Primetime Emmy Award nominations and was named among the American Film Institute’s top programs of the year for 2022.
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After Yang
After Yang is a science fiction drama directed by Kogonada. Set in a near future, the film follows a family’s emotional journey through grief and connection after their robotic child Yang malfunctions. Starring Colin Farrell and Jodie Turner-Smith, the narrative explores themes of memory and the human experience within a technologically advanced society.
After Yangdidn’t get a huge theatrical release, and many might not even be aware of its existence. The quiet science fiction movie, however, is a great piece of art. It explores ideas of loss and what it means to be human.
It sees a family attempt to fix the android they call their son when he becomes unresponsive.Richardson plays a stranger who is vital to getting into the memories of the android. She gets to be a mysterious stranger here instead of the comic relief or solely a love interest, and it’s interesting to see that air of mystery about her.
ThoughAfter Yangmight not have reached a huge audience, it did earn a lot of critical praise. It was named one ofIndieWire’sbest science fiction films of the 20th century and one ofRolling Stone’sbest science fiction films of all time.
Columbus
Columbus is a drama film directed by Kogonada, featuring John Cho and Haley Lu Richardson. Set in the architecturally rich city of Columbus, Indiana, the film follows a Korean-born man who forms an unexpected bond with a young woman, leading both to reevaluate their lives and aspirations. As they explore the town’s modernist buildings, their conversations uncover deeper emotional layers and personal struggles.
…perfectly balanced, making the movie feel like one of the most realistic Richardson has ever done.
BeforeAfter Yang, Richardson worked with director and writer Kogonada onColumbusas well.Columbuswas Kogonada’s directorial debut, and while both films are great, Richardson arguably gives her better performance here.
The movie sees a man (John Cho) fly into Indiana from South Korea to watch over his father, who is in a coma in the hospital. He had been in town to give an architecture lecture when he had become ill. While there, the man bonds with a young woman who works in the library and is fascinated by the local architecture herself.
The movie is beautifully shot as it focuses on the modernist buildings around the city, pairing them with the messy lives of the characters at the center of the story. Both characters have big decisions to make, and it would be easy for Richardson or Cho to go too far in their dramatic performances, but instead, they are perfectly balanced, making the movie feel like one of the most realistic Richardson has ever done.
Richardson was nominated for Best Actress for Columbus at the Gotham Independent Film Awards.
Montana Story
Montana Story follows estranged siblings, played by Haley Lu Richardson and Owen Teague, who reunite at their family ranch to care for their ailing father. Directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel, this 2022 drama explores themes of reconciliation, familial bonds, and the passage of time set against the stark, sweeping landscapes of Montana. The film captures the emotional complexities of dealing with past traumas and finding common ground.
Montana Storyis one of the most emotional movies in Richardson’s acting history.If she’s quietly balanced inColumbus, she’s explosive inMontana Story.
The movie follows a pair of siblings (Richardson and Owen Teague) who return to their father’s ranch in Montana after he ends up in a coma and isn’t expected to recover. They are tasked with deciding what to do with the family ranch, but their decisions are complicated by the violence they’ve suffered in the past at their father’s hands.
Richardson’s Erin in particular struggles to deal with the trauma she’s suffered and doesn’t understand why her own brother couldn’t help her.She can’t outrun her feelings, however, since the siblings, their father, and the nurse monitoring him, are relatively isolated on the family ranch. While Teague holds his own opposite her, Richardson is the true star of the movie.
The Edge of Seventeen
The Edge of Seventeen is a 2016 coming-of-age story starring Hailee Steinfeld, Woody Harrelson, Kyra Sedgwick, and Haley Lu Richardson. Steinfeld stars as Nadine Franklin, who is struggling her way through high school as a 17-year-old. But things get more complicated when her best friend starts dating her older brother.
WhenThe Edge Of Seventeenwas released in 2016, it was only Richardson’s fifth film and her quiet work in the movie might have been a little overshadowed by costarHailee Steinfeld’s electric performanceas a young woman struggling through her grief and feelings of betrayal.
The movie follows Steinfeld’s character who is still dealing with the death of her father four years later and her complicated relationships with her mother and brother when she finds out that her best friend is interested in her older brother. It feels like the ultimate betrayal to her, that her best friend would like her brother more than her when she forces her friend to choose between them.
Richardson’s Krista is a grounding force in the movie while Steinfeld’s character finds herself imploding.Another actor might have been forgotten completely in the role instead.
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2Support The Girls (2018)
As Maci
Support The Girlsmight be one of the most underrated comedies in Richardson’s acting history. That’s because not many people outside of film festivals saw it when it debuted in 2018.
The movie follows a group of employees, led by a manager played byRegina Hall, at a “breastaurant,” a bar that caters to a mostly male clientele interested in watching sporting events and ogling the waitstaff.Richardson is a member of the waitstaff working under Hall’s manager, who is just trying to keep the place running smoothly while under pressure from the big boss.As everything that can possibly go wrong for the staff does, everyone in the movie turns out fantastic performances.
The movie, and especially Hall, were praised by critical associations.Support The Girlsmanaged to address themes of workplace inequality, domestic abuse, and sexism while still telling a funny and cathartic story for the audience.
Unpregnant
Unpregnant is a road comedy-drama film directed by Rachel Lee Goldenberg. The story follows high schooler Veronica (Haley Lu Richardson) who, upon discovering she’s pregnant, enlists her former friend Bailey (Barbie Ferreira) for a cross-country trip to obtain an abortion. The film explores themes of friendship and autonomy against the backdrop of their journey.
…a buddy comedy that wears its heart on its sleeve…
In the United States, women’s health, and in particular, access to abortion, tend to be hot-button political topics, so it seems like it would be incredibly difficult to get a movie that centers a road trip around obtaining an abortion made. That’s exactly whatUnpregnantis.
The movie takes a serious subject - teen pregnancy and the options surrounding it - and treats it with a lot of humor and heart.While Richardson’s Veronica sees her entire life upended thanks to a positive pregnancy test, her decisions are treated carefully and seriously. The antics surrounding her decisions are where the humor comes in though. She even asks a friend she’s become estranged from to go on a road trip to a clinic with her.
Unpregnantwas nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding TV Movie.
It’s a buddy comedy that wears its heart on its sleeve and features superb performances from the entire cast. It’s unjust thatHaley Lu Richardsondidn’t receive more recognition for her acting work here.
