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 20) Madrid, Spain
Citizenship	Spain United Kingdom
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2015–present
Parent(s)	Will Keen (father)
Relatives	Laura Beatty (aunt) Alice Oswald (aunt) Edward Curzon, 6th Earl Howe (great-grandfather)

Dafne Keen Fernández (born 4 January 2005) is a Spanish and British actress. Keen made her debut as a child actor on the series The Refugees (2015). Her breakthrough role was as Laura in the superhero film Logan (2017). She starred as Lyra Belacqua in the television series His Dark Materials (2019–2022) and Jecki Lon in the Star Wars series The Acolyte (2024), and reprised the role of Laura in Deadpool & Wolverine (2024).

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 made her acting debut in 2015 at the age of 10, on the BBC television series The Refugees, where she starred alongside her father Will. The show ran from 2014 to 2015, ending after one season.

Keen was next cast in James Mangold's superhero film Logan as Laura, the child clone of Wolverine, played by Hugh Jackman. Casting director Priscilla John endorsed Keen for the role, saying that "She had an innocence and a vulnerability... people are going to fall in love with her." The film was released in 2017 to commercial and critical success, and is ranked among the best superhero movies of all time. Writing for Vanity Fair, Lisa Liebman called Keen "extraordinary" and "memorable not only for her slice-and-dice adamantium-claw action scenes but also for her ability to convey the young heroine's feral yet innocent nature." Tasha Robinson of The Verge said Keen's "indomitability and ferocious energy go a long way toward keeping the film from wallowing in its own misery." Keen won the Empire Award for Best Newcomer, and nominations from the Critics' Choice Movie Awards, Chicago Film Critics Association, and Saturn Awards, among other accolades.

In 2018, Keen was cast as Lyra Belacqua in the BBC/HBO series His Dark Materials, an adaptation of the book trilogy of the same name. To prepare for the role, Keen "religiously" read the books in her first two weeks on set. Her father Will stars with her, playing Hugh MacPhail. The series ran from 2019 to 2022. Keen remarked to W that "I've grown up on the show. It's really hitting me now." On her portrayal, The Hollywood Reporter's Daniel Fienberg called Keen "star-studded" and Allison Shoemaker for RogerEbert.com said she was "excellent (and perfectly cast)". Keen was nominated for the British Academy Cymru for Best Actress in 2020.

Keen next starred alongside Andy García in Charles McDougall's comedy-drama film Ana. She worked on the film immediately after Logan in 2017, and after a series of delays, it was released in 2020. The film received mixed reviews, although Amari Allah of Wherever I Look praised Keen's "charisma and presence" and compared her to a younger Natalie Portman.

In 2022, Keen joined the cast of Leslye Headland's Star Wars series The Acolyte. Headland created the character Jecki for Keen after seeing her performance in Logan. Keen got into character by listening to David Bowie and joked with Headland that her character also looked like the musician. The series premiered on Disney+ in 2024. Also in 2024, in a surprise reveal, she reprised her role as Laura in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Deadpool & Wolverine, reuniting with Jackman. It became Keen's highest-grossing release, the second-highest-grossing film of 2024, and the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time.

Keen will star in the upcoming horror film Whistle, directed by Corin Hardy. She will also star in Jay Hernandez's directorial debut Night Comes.

Artistry

In interviews with British Vogue and The Untitled Magazine, Keen cited Gena Rowlands, Meryl Streep, Olivia Colman, Jennifer Lawrence, and Timothée Chalamet as influences. Her favourite films include the musicals Singin' in the Rain (1952), Oklahoma! (1955) and West Side Story (1961), the comedies Some Like It Hot (1959) and Daddy's Home (2015), and the dramas Opening Night (1977) and In the Mood for Love (2000).

Filmography

Film

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

List of film roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2017	Logan	Laura / X-23
2020	Ana	Ana
2024	Deadpool & Wolverine	Laura / X-23
TBA	Whistle	TBA	Post-production
Night Comes	TBA	In production

Television

Podcast

• The Battersea Poltergeist (2021)

Awards and nominations