<Tr> <Th> Occupation </Th> <Td> Actress </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Years active </Th> <Td> 2006--present </Td> </Tr> <P> Dakota Blue Richards (born 11 April 1994) is an English actress . Her debut was in the film The Golden Compass, as the lead character Lyra Belacqua . She was cast as the lead of two other films: Dustbin Baby, as wayward teenager April, and The Secret of Moonacre, as Maria, the latter of which was released February 2009 . She also played the character Franky Fitzgerald in the third generation of the E4 teen drama Skins . </P> <P> Richards was born at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in South Kensington, London . She was named Dakota Blue because her mother wanted a combination of a place and a colour . The family moved to Sussex where she attended Newlands School . At school, she took very few drama classes and she was not an active participant in class assemblies or school plays; she missed out on the part of Mary in the nativity play . Nonetheless, throughout primary school, she attended weekend drama classes and took time out of school to attend auditions . She finished at St Paul's Primary School, then began attending Blatchington Mill School in Hove and the K - Bis Theatre School . </P>

Who plays lyra belacqua in the golden compass