Denise Lee Richards, an American actress, television personality, and model, was born on February 17, 1971. Her breakthrough parts came from science fiction picture Starship Troopers (1997), thriller Wild Things (1998), and spy movie The World Is Not Enough (1999). Richards’s popular debut was made possible by her portrayal as Bond girl Christmas Jones in the latter, despite receiving criticism for it.
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Richards’s filmography includes the slasher Valentine (2001), the dramas Edmond (2005) and Jolene (2008), the musical thriller American Satan (2017), and the comedies Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999), Undercover Brother (2002), Scary Movie 3 (2003), Love Actually (2003), and Madea’s Witness Protection (2012). Her TV credits include the serial opera The Bold and the Beautiful (2019–2022), the mystery thriller series Twisted (2013–2014), and the sitcom Blue Mountain State (2010–2011).
Richards has been a cast member of several reality television shows, including Denise Richards: It’s Complicated (2008–2009), The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (2019–2020, 2023–2024), and Denise Richards and the Wild Things (2025). Her memoir, The Real Girl Next Door, was released in 2011 and went on to become a New York Times Best Seller.
Denise Richards Childhood
Richards was born in Downers Grove, Illinois, to telephone engineer Irv Richards and coffee shop owner Joni (née Braden). Her mother passed away from cancer in November 2007. Richards has stated that she is of German and French descent. She has a younger sister named Michelle. Richards spent her childhood in Mokena, Illinois, as well as Downers Grove. She was the “only girl on the baseball team” when she was younger.
Richards’s family relocated to Oceanside, California, when she was fifteen years old. She was raised Catholic and graduated from El Camino High School in 1989. She was chosen as the most attractive student in the yearbook. Richards started her modeling career and traveled to Paris, New York, and Tokyo for photo shoots and commercials.
Denise Richards Career
the 1990s
When Richards was a teenager, she started her modeling career and was featured in print advertisements for Bonne Bell cosmetics in 1991. In addition, she was on the cover of Teen magazine, in the “Modeling: What It Takes” instructional film, and later in the Premiere 2K advertising campaign by Max Factor.
Richards made appearances in a number of movies and TV series during the 1990s, including Lookin’ Italian (1994), Tammy and the T-Rex (1994), Loaded Weapon 1 (1993), and guest appearing in Saved by the Bell, Married… in 1993’s short-lived drama series Against the Grain, where she played Jodi Collins, Ben Affleck’s character’s girlfriend. She also worked with Children and Doogie Howser, M.D. Richards has guest roles in a number of TV series, such as Melrose Place (1996), Beverly Hills, 90210 (1992), Seinfeld (1993), and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1994). Richards costarred with Veronica Hamel and Mimi Rogers in the 1995 made-for-TV film In the Blink of an Eye.
Richards at the 1999 World Is Not Enough premiere
Starship Troopers, her first major motion picture role with a broad theatrical distribution, earned Richards a nomination for the Blockbuster Entertainment Award’s Favorite Female Newcomer in 1997. The movie brought in $121.2 million in revenue globally. The movie was ranked number 20 on Slant Magazine’s list of the 100 Best Films of the 1990s in 2012. She then starred with Kevin Bacon, Neve Campbell, and Richards in the erotic thriller Wild Things (1998).
Variety praised Richards’s shift from playing good-girl roles to manipulative villains, and the review went on to say that she was part of “an ensemble that appears to be enjoying the challenge of offbeat roles and unusual material. There’s not a wrong note struck by the game group of players.” Glamour praised the movie’s female characters in 2016, calling Richards and Neve Campbell “two of the most well-rounded, fascinating, and exciting characters to ever grace the screen.”
Richards was chosen to play Christmas Jones, a nuclear physicist, in the 1999 James Bond movie The World Is Not Enough. Richards said that many viewers “made fun of” the character’s attire, but that “these Bond girls are so outrageous and if I did really look like a scientist, the Bond fans would have been disappointed.” Richards was nominated for the Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress – Action, despite the fact that she considered her role to be “brainy,” “athletic,” and having depth of character. Richards was also criticized for not being credible in the role. Richards costarred with Kirsten Dunst in the satirical beauty pageant film Drop Dead Gorgeous later that year. The movie is considered a cult classic and has continued to draw in new audiences. The Los Angeles Times commended Richards for her portrayal of a spoilt princess, describing it as “as rightly nasty as she is pretty”.
the 2000s
Denise Richards made a cameo appearance in the Friends episode “The One with Ross and Monica’s Cousin” in 2001, playing Cassie Geller, the cousin of Ross and Monica Geller. Later that year, she made four appearances on Spin City as Charlie Sheen’s character’s love interest, Jennifer Duncan. Two years later, she appeared in two episodes of Two and a Half Men as the ex-girlfriend of Sheen’s character. Richards starred in a number of movies, including You Stupid Man (2002), Valentine (2001), Good Advice (2001), Undercover Brother (2002), and The Third Wheel (2002).
In the commercially successful horror comedy Scary Movie 3 (2003), which made $220 million worldwide, she portrayed Annie Logan. The film’s narrative heavily parodies The Ring, Signs, and The Matrix Reloaded. Richards had a cameo in the 2003 British romance comedy Love Actually. She starred in two movies in 2004: Elvis Has Left the Building and Whore.
Richards starred in the ensemble drama film Edmond (2005) with William H. Macy and Mena Suvari. She also had a lead role as publicist Jolene in the short-lived UPN soap opera Sex, Love & Secrets (2005). The series focused on rich young adults living in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, and their secrets involving sex and love. In the drama picture Jolene (2008), she made her on-screen mother Theresa Russell, who played the Wild Things, back together.
Denise Richards: It’s Complicated, her reality show, made her E! debut. 26 May 2008. “It’s Complicated is one of those “celebs, they’re just like us!”,” according to Entertainment Weekly’s review of the show, which tracked the daily lives of Richards, her daughters Sam and Lola, her married younger sister Michelle, and her father Irv.The show ended on July 26, 2009, following two seasons, and was described as “shows in which we’re expected to enjoy watching a famous pampered person doing things we don’t want to do either.”
Richards debuted with Maksim Chmerkovskiy in the eighth season of the dance competition television series Dancing with the Stars. On March 24, 2009, she became the second contestant to be eliminated. She was cast as Autumn Bliss in the romantic comedy film Deep in the Valley (2009), which starred Chris Pratt and Kim Kardashian.
2010s
Denise Richards began appearing in the sitcom Blue Mountain State on Paramount Network in 2010 as Debra Simon. The show revolves around the fictional university Blue Mountain State and its football team, the “Mountain Goats”. It depicts some elements of American college life, such as drinking, partying, sex, and American football. It was rumored in February 2012 that Blue Mountain State will not receive a fourth season renewal. The show has gained a cult following over the years, largely because it can be streamed on Netflix. Richards’ memoir, The Real Girl Next Door, became a New York Times Best Seller in July 2011.
Richards stated in an interview with HuffPost in 2011 that she chose to write the book because she “wanted to do something inspirational for other people going through challenging times.” In September 2011, Richards reportedly declined a $100,000 offer to play Charlie Sheen’s ex-girlfriend at his funeral in Two and a Half Men. A month later, she started filming a guest spot for an episode of the NBC comedy series 30 Rock. After that, Richards appeared in an episode of TV Guide Network’s Hollywood Moms’ Club, which aired in November 2011.
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In the comedy Madea’s Witness Protection (2012), which made $67 million at the box office, Richards portrayed Kate Needleman. Shot in Atlanta at the beginning of 2012, Madea’s Witness Protection was distributed by Lionsgate and 34th Street Films. Richards became a cast member of Twisted, an ABC Family mystery-thriller television series, in 2012. She starred in two Operation: Neighborhood Watch! films in 2015. as well as the Christmas Trade. She played Kat Faust in the musical thriller film American Satan (2017), for which Richards was nominated for the Festival Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Feature Film at the Northeast Film Festival.
Later that year, Richards portrayed Temple Hampton in an episode of Bravo’s comedy-drama series Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce. In 2016, she made a guest appearance as herself in The CW’s Jane the Virgin, in the episode “Chapter Fifty-One.” In addition to starring opposite Mischa Barton in the supernatural horror film The Toybox (2018), she also played Karen in the faith-based film The Prayer Box (2018), which was released on October 20, 2018. The film is about a family who go on a summer road trip in a used RV and get stranded in the desert by a supernatural force that is slowly killing them off.
In August 2018, Richards announced that she would be joining the Bravo reality series, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, for the show’s ninth season, which premiered on February 12, 2019. Vanity Fair described her addition to the series by saying: “She might be one of the most famous people to join the Housewives franchise, someone who was a legitimate household name before becoming a reality star.
Now, that doesn’t always translate to on-screen gold, but it is a nice little coup for Bravo.” The New York Times wrote that Richards “brought a refreshing and occasionally disarming dose of reality” to the series. On May 31, 2019, The Daily Beast wrote that “Richards’s appearance on the show is the best kind of surprise, one that reveals that a celebrity is not who we may have assumed them to be. She’s an extremely warm, loving parent, without a hint of narcissism or vapidity about her.” Fox News called her “an instant fan favorite” when she joined the show in 2019.
In 2019, she joined the cast of CBS’ soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful as Shauna Fulton. “Shauna is a fun-loving, hard-working single mother from Las Vegas who aspires to live life to its absolute fullest,” executive producer and headwriter Bradley Bell told People magazine. In July 2019, it was announced that Richards had joined the cast of Fox Broadcasting’s comedy-drama television series BH90210 in a guest role, playing a fictionalized version of herself.
She portrayed overly-ambitious mother Candice in Lifetime television film The Secret Lives of Cheerleaders, released on September 2, 2019. “I think the story’s about this girl that’s trying to fit in and makes some bad choices and then, knowing right from wrong, decided to make a better choice,” Richards told Parade. On November 4, 2019, Richards appeared as a guest model on the game show The Price Is Right. Richards played Valerie in the Christmas film My Adventures with Santa (2019) opposite Patrick Muldoon. The film was released in limited theaters on November 15, 2019.
2020s
Richards made a comeback for the tenth season of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, which debuted on April 15, 2020. Her representative confirmed on September 10, 2020 that Richards is leaving the show after two seasons. Richards traveled to Spain in late 2020 to start filming the adventure drama series Glow & Darkness, where she played the Countess of Champagne.
Richards made five film appearances in 2020: Money Plane, Switched, and Reality Queen!, Timecrafters and Alpha Code: The Pirate’s Cove Treasure. On July 10, 2020, Quiver Distribution released the heist film Money Plane on video-on-demand services. Richards played Victoria Sharp, the mother of a school bully in the September 4, 2020 release of Switched. On August 28, 2021, she portrayed Amanda in the thriller Killer Cheer Mom on Lifetime. The story follows Riley, a high school junior, as she moves to a new town with her dad and stepmother, Amanda (Richards).
People magazine revealed in June 2024 that Richards had inked a contract with E! will be the lead actress in Denise Richards and the Wild Things, a brand-new reality television program that will launch in 2025 and center on Richards’ family life. She is also serving as the show’s executive producer.
Denise Richards Additional Pursuits
Company
In the spring of 2012, Richards debuted her signature scent. In November 2019, Richards said that she and CBme Beauty had collaborated to create a skincare line.
Creating Models
Richards has appeared on the covers of many magazines throughout her career, including Cosmopolitan (Poland, Greece, US, and Germany), Redbook, Details, Esquire, Self, Shape, GQ, Bella, and Empire. Five months after giving birth, in December 2004, she posed for a nude photo shoot for Playboy magazine. In July 2006, Richards posed semi-naked for Jane magazine in order to raise money for the Clothes Off Our Back Foundation. Richards has been featured in ads for several brands like Pepsi, Head & Shoulders, Secret, J.C. Penney, and Librero. On March 14, 2007, in Hollywood, she walked the catwalk at the “Max Factor Salutes Hollywood” fashion show.
2010 saw Richards walk the runway for the Belle Parish fashion show, which was part of the fashion line of Ali Landry and Annie Kate Pons. In 2012, Richards costarred with Adrianne Curry, Lisa Rinna, and Janet Evans in an infomercial for abdominal muscle toner “The Flex Belt.” In 2013, Richards was named a brand ambassador for Oro Gold Cosmetics. In 2017, she made appearances in commercials and advertising campaigns for the furniture brand Urban Home. Richard has been featured in music videos for Blues Traveler’s “Canadian Rose” and Snoop Dogg’s “Undercova Funk.”[citation needed] In September 2019, she walked the runway for Kyle Richards and Shahida Clayton’s new clothing brand during New York Fashion Week.
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As a show of support for her daughter Sam, who had drawn criticism for opening her own account, Richards signed up with OnlyFans as a content creator in June 2022. She stated that she thought “the creators of [OnlyFans] really took the best of every platform of social media and put it into one site,” because as a creator, “you own your content. The other sites, they can sell your content.” Richards makes a sizable living from the site. Her friend Tori Spelling eventually acknowledged using a pseudonymous account to subscribe and spend over $400 on content and tips in a matter of two days.
Charity
Richards (left) and Kellie Martin (right) during the 2012 Hero Dog Awards presented by the American Humane Association
Richards spends a lot of her time philanthropically when she is not at work. The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Feeding America, Much Love Animal Rescue, the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes, Best Friends Animal Society, and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles are just a few of the charities that Richards has supported. She has also spoken out in favor of gay marriage and appeared in the NOH8 Campaign .
Richards has collaborated with Best Friends Animal Society on a number of initiatives, such as the Pup My Ride program, which moves little pups from animal shelters with high kill rates to areas of the US where there is a higher need for small dogs. “I’ve been involved with Best Friends Animal Society since 2009 and I’ve seen firsthand the differences they’ve made and the countless lives they’ve saved,” Richards said. She promoted the Save Them All campaign in 2014 and frequently appeared on Access Hollywood’s monthly pet segment, which featured shelter dogs that Best Friends had rescued and were up for adoption. She collaborated with North Shore Animal League and adopted a puppy from a Long Island shelter while helping with Hurricane Sandy relief efforts in New York.
As part of the Celebrity Shoe Design Program for Charity, she designed two shoes for ShoeDazzle in December 2012, marking her first collaboration with the fashion subscription service. In January 2012, she designed the “Eloise” heel and raised over $15,000 for the Kidney Cancer Association. She has walked the runway for charity fashion shows, including The Heart Truth’s Red Dress Fall 2011 Collections, Clothes Off Your Back Benefit, and Susan G. Komen’s 8th Annual Fashion For The Cure. The Kidney Cancer Association benefited from the shoe sales proceeds. Richards devoted her time to supporting and spreading awareness of the organization after her mother passed away from kidney cancer. In November 2015, she and her daughters volunteered at Thanksgiving and provided food for families facing homelessness.
Richards shot a public service announcement that was shown in theaters around the country in June 2018. She joined The Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation’s summer theatrical PSA campaign to assist Brave Beginnings, which provides essential neonatal equipment to U.S. hospitals.
Media representation
The media has frequently covered Richards’s appearance. She was placed #9 in Maxim’s 50 Sexiest Women in 1999. She came in at number two on FHM’s 100 Sexiest Women list in 2001, number five on the same list, and number nineteen on AskMen.com’s 50 Most Beautiful Women. In 2002, Richards was ranked at number 21 in Stuff magazine’s “102 Sexiest Women in the World.” In 2011, Men’s Health ranked her at number 61 on their list of “100 Hottest Women of All Time.” Shape magazine ranked her at number 7 on their list of “10 of Our Fave Bond Girls: Then and Now.” Richards was named one of the “100 Hottest Women of All-Time.”
Denise Richards Individual Life
On December 26, 2001, Richards got engaged to actor Charlie Sheen. On June 15, 2002, they were married at the estate of Spin City creator Gary David Goldberg. Together, they have two children. In March 2005, while Richards was expecting their second child, she filed for divorce from Sheen. She claimed Sheen had threatened to kill her. On April 19, 2006, Richards filed formal legal papers seeking a divorce from Sheen under California law.
The divorce was finalized on November 30, 2006, and Sheen was ordered to keep 300 feet away from his ex-wife and their daughters, with the exception of supervised visits. In May 2010, Sheen turned over legal custody of Sam and Lola to Richards. Their daughters were previously under joint legal care. Sheen did not oppose Richards’ request for sole legal custody, citing “marital turmoil, sobriety issues, and criminal problems” as reasons. She was granted primary physical custody and he was granted visiting rights as per their divorce agreement.
Richards and Sheen were getting along well by the middle of 2012, frequently spending time with their kids together . While Richards starred in Sheen’s television series Anger Management, Sheen made a brief cameo appearance in her film Madea’s Witness Protection in 2012. Sheen backed Richards’ request to be granted temporary custody of the twin sons Sheen and his wife Brooke Mueller had born in 2009 after the children had been taken from Mueller’s home by child protective services because of drug-related concerns.
Richards became a single parent in June 2011 when she adopted Eloise Joni Richards, her third daughter. As a single parent, she went through a two-year adoption process to adopt her. Eloise was born with a rare chromosomal disorder called Chromosome 8, or Monosomy 8p, which affects her speech. Richards has worked to learn sign language in order to communicate with her daughter.
Before his divorce with Nicolette Sheridan was finalized, Richards started dating Aaron Phypers in December 2017. The couple got married in Malibu, California, on September 8, 2018. In May 2019, Richards said that Phypers was adopting her youngest daughter, Eloise.
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