Dafne Keen facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Dafne Keen
Keen in 2019
Born	Dafne Keen Fernández (2005-01-04) 4 January 2005 (age 19) Madrid, Spain
Citizenship	Spain United Kingdom
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2014–present
Parents	Will Keen (father) María Fernández Ache (mother)
Relatives	Laura Beatty (aunt) Alice Oswald (aunt) Edward Curzon, 6th Earl Howe (paternal great-grandfather)

Dafne Keen Fernández (born 4 January 2005) is an English-Spanish actress. She made her debut starring as Ana "Ani" Cruz Oliver on the television series The Refugees from 2014 to 2015, before her breakthrough starring as Laura in the 2017 superhero film Logan, in which she received widespread critical acclaim for her acting. She received several awards, including an Empire Award for Best Newcomer, and nominations for a Critics' Choice Award and a Saturn Award. From 2019 to 2022, she starred as Lyra Belacqua in the television series His Dark Materials, for which she was nominated for a BAFTA Cymru.

Early life

Dafne Keen was born in Madrid. She is the daughter of English actor Will Keen and Spanish actress, theatre director and writer María Fernández Ache. Her paternal great-grandfather was Edward Curzon, 6th Earl Howe; her aunts are poet Alice Oswald and writer Laura Beatty.

Career

Keen began acting in 2014, starring alongside her father in the BBC television series The Refugees, where she played Ana "Ani" Cruz Oliver. The show ended in 2015 after one season.

Two years after her screen debut, and after several auditions, Keen was cast by 20th Century Fox in a big-budget Hollywood production; she appeared with Hugh Jackman in the 2017 superhero film Logan as the mutant Laura, the child clone of Wolverine. The film opened to critical and financial success, and is considered to be one of the best superhero movies of all time. Keen's performance received critical acclaim, and she received several awards and nominations for her performance, which include winning an Empire Award for Best Newcomer, and receiving nominations from the Chicago Film Critics Association, the Saturn Awards, and more.

In 2019, Keen was cast in the lead role of Lyra Belacqua in the BBC/HBO television adaptation of the His Dark Materials trilogy, where she co-stars along with actress Ruth Wilson; her father is also a cast member of the series, playing Lyra's nemesis, Father MacPhail. The series has a positive reception, and Keen received praise for her performance, with The Hollywood Reporter writing "...this effort nails much of what makes the books pop, and both the special effects and a star-studded cast led by Dafne Keen and Ruth Wilson are in fine form." For the role, she was nominated for a BAFTA Cymru Award for Best Actress in 2020.

In 2020, Keen starred alongside Andy García in the comedy-drama film Ana; the film was originally announced in 2017, but was delayed until 2020. The film opened to mixed reviews, although Keen's performance received praise. Film critic Amari commented on her "charisma and presence" and wrote how Keen and Garcia "enhance each other's presence to the point you can forgive the film’s shortcomings."

In November 2022, Keen joined the cast of the Star Wars series The Acolyte.

Filmography

Films

Television series

Podcast

Awards and nominations

See also

In Spanish: Dafne Keen para niños