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Denise Lee Richards (born February 17,
1971) is an American actress and former fashion model.
She came to fame in the late 1990s, after a string of
films that highlighted her sex appeal, including Wild
Things and The World Is Not Enough. Richards is also
known for her marriage to (and divorce from) actor
Charlie Sheen.
Early life: Richards was born in Downers Grove,
Illinois to Joni, a coffee shop owner, and Irv Richards,
a telephone engineer.She is of Croatian descent.She
graduated from El Camino High School in Oceanside,
California, where she became a cheerleader.
Career: Before she was an actress, Richards was a
fashion model. Richards spent the majority of the 1990s
appearing in lower-budget films, television movies, and
guest starring in episodes of several television shows.
Her first starring role in a wide theatrical release was
Starship Troopers in 1997, which was followed by her
role in the moderately successful cult film Wild Things
in 1998.
Richards was subsequently cast as Dr.
Christmas Jones in the James Bond film The World Is Not
Enough (1999), which had a high box office gross and
contributed to Richards' renown. In addition to her film
work, Richards has made regular appearances in the
situation comedies Spin City, Two and a Half Men,
Friends and Seinfeld. She also starred in the
short-lived UPN series Sex, Love & Secrets in 2005.
Throughout the early 2000s, Richards appeared in several
film roles which both parodied and utilized her image as
a sex symbol, including Valentine, Undercover Brother
and Scary Movie 3. In December of 2004, she posed in a
nude pictorial for Playboy magazine. Richards also posed
naked for the July 2006 issue of Jane magazine to raise
money for the Clothes Off Our Back Foundation. In 1999
she ranked 9 in Maxim's 50 Sexiest Women and in 2001 she
was voted 2nd in FHM's USA 100 Sexiest Women, 5th in FHM
100 Sexiest Women and 19 in AskMen.com 50 Most Beautiful
Women.
Green-eyed former model Denise Richards went in a few
short years from complete obscurity to one of the many
"Next Big Things" to entice filmgoers in the
late 1990s. Born February 17, 1971 in a Chicago suburb,
Richards moved with her family to San Diego at the age
of twelve.
Following a modeling stint in New York (which was of
limited success due to Richards' 5' 6" height),
Richards moved to Los Angeles to try her hand at acting.
She found work in shows such as Doogie Howser, MD and
Saved By the Bell before getting her first break in 1993
as Ben Affleck's girlfriend in the short-lived Against
the Grain.
1993 also marked Richards' film debut in National
Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1. This led to her first
starring role in the bizarre 1994 "family
film" Tammy and the T-Rex. Following a small part
in Gregg Araki's Nowhere (1997), Richards acquired
relative fame, not to mention a dedicated group of male
followers, for her role in Paul Verhoeven's $100 million
sci-fi action film Starship Troopers.
Featuring an army of giant ants doing battle with an
army of tawny-skinned, white-toothed young men and women
who appeared to have wandered off a Nordic Track
commercial, the movie met with enough success to
constitute Richards' "big break." She gained
further exposure (literally) and fame with her next
venture, 1998's Wild Things.
Cast as spoiled socialite Kelly Van Ryan, Richards gave
a delightfully trashy performance in a film that called
for her to lie, cheat, scheme, seduce, kill, and even
perform a lesbian love scene with co-star Neve Campbell.
The film was successful in its ability to satisfy its
audience's desire for tacky and oversexed fun, and it
provided Richards with further opportunities, including
1999's Drop Dead Gorgeous.
Co-starring with Kirsten Dunst, Richards played a
small-town beauty pageant contestant in a film that
gleefully plays with America's beauty ideals, something
that was undoubtedly familiar territory for the actress.
Though 2001's horror flop Valentine and the
straight-to-video Good Advice did little for her career,
Richards saw her star rise further in 2002 with a set of
high-profile films that did much to expand her range.
In director Malcolm D. Lee's cheeky Blaxploitation
send-up Undercover Brother, Richards was able to give
her evil Wild Things persona an even broader, more
satirical spin as White She-Devil, an operative for an
evil Caucasian conglomerate bent on converting the world
to its mayonnaise-eating ways.
Richards' intentionally wooden line readings and sly
self-parody made her an invaluable part of Brother's
comic ensemble, helping the film become a minor hit. The
romantic comedy The Third Wheel came later that year.
Personal life: Richards once dated actor Patrick
Muldoon. In 2002, she married actor Charlie Sheen, with
whom she appeared in Scary Movie 3, where she played his
character's dying wife. The couple have two daughters:
Sam J, who was born on March 9, 2004, and Lola Rose, who
was born on June 1, 2005. Richards was named the Sexiest
Mom of 2005 by In Touch Weekly magazine.
In March of 2005, Richards filed for divorce from Sheen.
The couple briefly reconciled and were seeking marriage
counseling to mend their relationship. However, on
January 4, 2006, Richards' representative announced that
she was continuing with the divorce, and she has
recently sought a restraining order against Sheen,
citing his use of death threats against her. She has
also been linked to actor John Stamos, whom she dated
during her teenage years.
Divorce from Charlie Sheen: On April 19, 2006,
Richards filed for divorce from Sheen under the laws of
the state of California. In her 17-page court filing
(not counting additional supporting evidentiary
documents), Richards alleged that Sheen's behavior was
increasingly erratic, making their marriage impossible,
and that she feared for her safety and the safety of
their two daughters: Sam J. and Lola Rose.
Richards claimed that Sheen was physically and verbally
abusive and threatened to kill her or have her killed,
and that despite having accidentally shot his previous
fiancée, Kelly Preston, he wanted to place firearms
under their coffee table to protect them. Richards
claimed that Sheen had become paranoid and obsessive,
citing his belief in 9/11 conspiracy theories, a belief
that baby formula caused brain damage, a desire to
purchase gas masks, and an "abnormal
fascination" with Nicole Simpson's death.
Further, Richards alleged that Sheen visited prostitutes
and was addicted to gambling, prescription drugs (which
he bought over the Internet), and pornography. Richards
also alleged that Sheen posted a picture of his erect
penis on his online profile of a "sex-search
type" website and that he frequently viewed
pornography featuring "very young girls," and
websites "involving gay pornography also involving
very young men who also did not look like adults".
Based on these allegations, Richards sought and received
a restraining order against Sheen.
Sheen denied the allegations. In an interview with
Entertainment Tonight, he described Richards' actions as
a "smear campaign" and insisted that he was a
responsible father who would "give his life for his
children." He added that Richards is "the only
one entirely culpable for putting these radical
allegations out for public consumption... my children
included."
Laptop paparazzi incident: On November 8, 2006,
officers from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)
were called to a casino in Richmond, B.C., where
Richards was making a movie. After seeing some
photographers taking her picture from a nearby balcony,
she apparently confronted them, grabbed one of their
laptop computers and threw it over the balcony.
The laptops landed near two elderly
women, one 91 years old and one 89 years old and in a
wheelchair. The 89-year-old woman suffered minor
injuries (mild bruising) and was treated by emergency
personnel, yet declined to press charges against
Richards. |
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