Short History
Denise
grew up in Downers Grove, a middle-class suburb of Chicago, where
she attended Pierce Downer Elementary School and Herrick Middle
School. When she was 12, her parents Joni and Irv moved to the
San Diego area where they currently own a chain of coffee shops
called Jitters.
She did some modeling as a teenager and briefly moved to New York
where she lived in a model apartment with six other girls. But at
5ft 6in she was never going to get much further than the J Crew
catalog so she moved to Los Angeles and started taking acting
classes. Before long she was landing small roles in shows like
Doogie Howser, MD and Saved By The Bell.
Her debut feature appearance was in 1993’s National
Lampoon’s Loaded Weapon One and her first break came when
she got the part of Ben Affleck’s girlfriend in an NBC show
called Against The Grain in 1993. It was canceled after eight
episodes.
A couple of forgettable film roles followed, plus a guest spot on
Melrose Place, but in 1997, she began to break through. In
addition to Starship Troopers, in which she played fighter pilot
Carmen Ibanez, she had a small part in Gregg Araki’s
Nowhere, then landed the role of Kelly Van Ryan in Wild Things, a
manipulative teenage heiress who seduces a High School guidance
counselor played by Matt Dillon.
Wild Things is one of those films in which you can watch an
actress find herself.l For Ursula Andress, it’s in Dr. No
when she emerges from the sea in a white bikini. For Sanra
Bullock, it’s the moment she takes the wheel of the bus in
Speed. For Denise Richards, it’s the scene in Wild Things in
which she stands in the hall of Matt Dillon’s house in
shorts and a T-shirt, having just cleaned his car. With her
pea-green eyes and parted, puffy lips, she looks as though
she’s sprung from the fevered
imagination of a horny adolescent boy confined to his bedroom on
a hot summer afternoon.
Denise Richards may not have cut it as a catwalk model but she
could have a great career as a centerfold. In addition to her
classic, Coca Cola bottle figure, she has a face that combines
the soap commercial prettiness of an all-American, High School
sweetheart with just a hint of depravity.
