'Jurassic Park' child star Ariana Richards stuns on red carpet at sequel's premiere
Ariana Richards is back on the red carpet embracing her "Jurassic Park" roots.
While the 42-year-old former child star doesn't have a cameo in the anticipated upcoming sequel, "Jurassic World: Dominion," she did make an appearance at the film's red carpet premiere in Los Angeles earlier this week.
At 12, the now-former actress played the role of Lex Murphy in the original 1993 movie, as well as the 1997 sequel "The Lost World: Jurassic Park." She walked the red carpet in flared dark denim pants with a matching blazer over a black top, paired with a white clutch.
Richards, who has retired from acting and is now a painter, attended this week's "Jurassic World: Dominion" premiere just days after her father's passing. She took to Instagram on June 2 to share a tribute to her late father, paired with a photo of herself, her younger sister and her dad attending a young artists awards ceremony, where she won an award for her role in the original "Jurassic Park."
"I’m going to miss you, Dad. So very, very much. You were second to none," she captioned the photo for her more than 34,000 followers.
"Here is a photo of me, my sister Bethany and my dad, Gary Richards, from Feb. 5, 1994 at the fifteenth annual Youth in Film awards, Sportsman’s Lodge, Studio City, Calif., where I received an award for 'Jurassic.' He used to accompany me to so many events, no matter how busy he was," she penned.
"I know you all deal with your own personal losses. I just wanted to share this with you," Richards concluded.
Back in 2011, she told Interview Magazine that prior to the major success of "Jurassic Park," she did not anticipate becoming a child star.
"It's a film that touched so many people when it came out. ... It was one of those things where I just enjoyed the experience of creating the movie, and then everything that happened after, the whole landslide, was all a surprise. I was not prepared for the fact that huge numbers of people would recognize me on a daily basis," she said, adding that she couldn't even eat lunch out in public without being approached by fans.
"I mean, I couldn't eat lunch somewhere without people lining up to talk to me," Richards shared, before explaining her decision to step away from acting.
"People ask me, 'So did you step away from acting or decide to leave the business?' I let them know it's not about making a choice," she said.
"Acting is always going to be something that's in my blood. It's more that my interest has been really taken by visual art and doing the oil paintings for people. ... If some really interesting role came along and found me, I'm sure I'd be thrilled to do it."
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