Haley Lu Richardson Just Wants to Dance

Haley Lu Richardson, best known for playing Gen Z poster-child Portia in “The White Lotus” season 2, has been angling to dance in a musical for at least 12 years. “I've been putting this out into the universe since I was 16. That's my biggest dream, for sure,” Richardson tells us. (She’s currently “talking to people about it,” she adds. There are “ideas circulating.”)

That desire isn’t just a throwback to Richardson’s days as a dancer before she transitioned to acting—it’s an extension of how she still approaches performing. “The thing I love about acting the most is the thing I love about dancing the most. It’s this thing that comes from your soul; it’s just such a vulnerable, abandoned thing,” she says. “The first time I really felt like I was acting was actually through dance. Now when I think about, what is my [acting] process? It is such an internal thing. It’s in my body, it’s listening to music.”

On this episode of In the Envelope: The Actor’s Podcast, Richardson makes a few more discoveries about her own acting process, gets candid about the reaction to her “White Lotus” character, and reveals the iconic script she once turned down.

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Special thanks to...
- Host: Vinnie Mancuso
- Producer: Jamie Muffett
- Social media: Karen Jenkins
- Design: Mark Stinson, Caitlin Watkins
- Additional support: Kasey Howe, Samantha Sherlock, Oriella St. Louis

[Topseller]

Awesome will get you there....Don't sell your soul....😊You're what we An old head on young shoulders ...

[HaleyMary]

Loved the chat about the Bug's Life movie! I love that movie! I'm a big fan of David Foley's work going back to the Kids In The Hall show.

I love what she said about dance. Dance and music are like universal languages. You don't need to understand the words to understand the emotions expressed.

[tyronedasher]

I would love to have seen Haley Lu Richardson in the movie midsommer