Featured Image Credit: Alamy
Topics: Jurassic Park, TV and Film
Lisa McLoughlin
Former child star Ariana Richards left film fans stunned on Tuesday (8 June) as she attended the Jurassic World: Dominion premiere at the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
The actress played Lex, a computer savvy teen, in the 1993 movie Jurassic Park, which was directed by Steven Spielberg and starred Laura Dern, Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum.
And Richards looked worlds away from her character 29 years on as she walked the red carpet in a dark denim suit at the cinematic event.
In the original flick, Richards played Lex, the grandchild of John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), who opened Jurassic Park, a park with real dinosaurs he secretly bred in South America.
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After chaos ensues and the dinos break free, Lex’s knowledge of how to run the park's controls helps the group survive.
After Jurassic Park, she was briefly in the film's sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park in 1997.
Following the film franchise, Richards starred in the TV movie The Princess Stallion (1997) and Broken Silence (1998), while her last project was Battledogs in 2013.
In the same year as her final TV project, the former child star married Mark Aaron Bolton and welcomed a daughter together in 2015.
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Despite starring in one of film's biggest blockbusters, Richards turned her back on Hollywood nine years ago in favour of pursuing her career as an artist.
Speaking about her work to Interview Magazine, the actress, who has a degree in Fine Art and Drama, said: "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.
"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."
Elsewhere, stars from the original film franchise will be returning to the Jurassic era as two generations unite for the first time.
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If you're not already excited, the new film will be 'featuring never-seen dinosaurs, breakneck action and astonishing new visual effects'.
The chilling synopsis reads: "Dominion takes place four years after Isla Nublar has been destroyed. Dinosaurs now live—and hunt—alongside humans all over the world.
"This fragile balance will reshape the future and determine, once and for all, whether human beings are to remain the apex predators on a planet they now share with history’s most fearsome creatures."
Chris Pratt, who plays Owen Grady in the newer trilogy, told Variety: "Man, I can't tell you anything, but I can tell you it's going to blow your mind.
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"It's going to be the biggest and best yet. They spared no expense and they're bringing everybody back."
He will be joined by new cast members DeWanda Wise (She’s Gotta Have It), Emmy nominee Mamoudou Athie (Archive 81), Dichen Lachman (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Scott Haze (Minari) and Campbell Scott (The Amazing Spider-Man 2).
The film’s returning cast also includes BD Wong as Dr. Henry Wu, Justice Smith as Franklin Webb, Daniella Pineda as Dr. Zia Rodriguez and Omar Sy as Barry Sembenè.
Jurassic World Dominion will be shown in cinemas on 10 June.