Dafne Keen was a British-Spanish actress born on January 19, 2005. The daughter of actor Will Keen and actress, theater director, and writer María Fernández Ache, Dafne was also the paternal great-granddaughter of Edward Curzon, 6th Earl Howe, a member of the English peerage. Known for his roles in “Victor Frankenstein” (2015) and “The Crown” (Netflix, 2016-), Will Keen acted alongside his daughter in her acting and television debut, “The Refugees” (laSexta, 2015).
The British-Spanish co-production followed a massive group of refugees time traveling to the past to avoid a deadly virus; both father and daughter were a part of the main cast. Dafne Keen landed her breakout role (and her film debut) as Laura in “Logan” (2017), the conclusion of Hugh Jackman’s run as the iconic Marvel Comics and X-Men character Wolverine. As his mutant daughter (claws run in the family), Keen received critical praise. She then joined the television adaptation of Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” (BBC One, TBA) as main character Lyra, appearing alongside her father Will once again.
Dafne Keen is a wonderful young actress who you will know from playing X-23 in Logan. She was fantastic in the role, and right after that film came out, the rumors of her playing the character in her own film started, of course. Nothing ever got off the ground, and then Disney bought Fox, essentially killing that possibility. While doing publicity for the second season of HBO’s His Dark Materials, Dafne Keen talked a little about the studio’s hopes from back then and says that she, of course, would love to continue the X-23 story on the big screen.
2 years later after her screen debut, and after several auditions, Keen was cast by Marvel Comics in a big-budget Hollywood production; she co-starred 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.
The series has a positive reception,[17] 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 commenting 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.”
