Emily Bett Rickards

Emily Bett Rickards (born July 24, 1991)^[1] is a Canadian actress. She is known for her role as Felicity Smoak on The CW series Arrow, her first television credit. She reprised the role in the Arrowverse shows The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl and voiced the character on the animated web series Vixen.

Quick Facts Born, Occupation ...

Emily Bett Rickards
Rickards at the GalaxyCon Austin convention in 2023
Born	(1991-07-24) July 24, 1991 (age 33) British Columbia, Canada
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2009–present
Signature

Early life and career

Rickards was born and raised in British Columbia. Her mother is Dr. Diane Greig, a dream psychotherapist in Vancouver.^[2]^[3]^[4]

At a young age, she was introduced to musical theatre and dance. Graduating early from high school, she attended the Vancouver Film School, completing their acting essentials program. Following completion, she attended an open call audition, gaining an agent.^[5] She studied at the Alida Vocal Studio in Vancouver.^[6] Rickards made her first professional appearance in 2009, starring in the video for the Nickelback single "Never Gonna Be Alone".^[7]

Career

Summarize

Perspective

Arrowverse

Rickards breakthrough role came in 2012 with her first television casting, as Felicity Smoak in The CW television series Arrow, which is based on the DC Comics character Green Arrow.^[8] Originally signed as a one-episode guest star,^[9] positive reaction from her co-star, show-lead Stephen Amell,^[10] and from Warner Brothers executive Peter Roth^[11]^[12] as well as from journalists at preview screenings,^[13] led to Rickards being signed as a recurring star for the rest of the show's first season. The success of the character saw her signed as a series regular from the second season onwards.^[9]^[14]^[15] Speaking in 2013 about that decision, Arrow executive producer Marc Guggenheim stated "we were very lucky that we cast Emily Rickards, who just lit up the screen."^[16] In March 2019, Rickards announced that she would be leaving Arrow at the end of the show's seventh season.^[17] In November 2019 Rickards was confirmed as a guest star for Arrow's series finale.^[18]

Throughout the series run, Rickards received praise for her performance in the role, often described as the show's "fan favourite"^[19] or "breakout"^[20] character, with many critics describing the character, and Rickards, as an integral part of the show's success.^[21] Notably her delivery of the monologue in the season six episode "We Fall" won her particular praise.^[22] Rickards was nominated for multiple Teen Choice and Leo Awards for the role, and in 2016, her portrayal of the character was placed at number 15 in a list of 50 Favourite Female Characters, in a poll of Hollywood professionals conducted by The Hollywood Reporter.^[23]

Rickards also portrayed the character in the spin-off shows to the series (collectively known as the Arrowverse) The Flash,^[24] Legends of Tomorrow^[25] and Supergirl,^[26] as well as providing the voice for the character on animated show Vixen.^[27] In 2013, she portrayed Felicity in web-based promotional tie-in series Blood Rush, sponsored by Bose, which also featured the characters of Roy Harper (Colton Haynes) and Quentin Lance (Paul Blackthorne).^[28]

Film

In March 2014, Rickards was cast in the sequel to Cowgirls 'n Angels, entitled Cowgirls 'n Angels: Dakota's Summer, as Kristen Rose, the sister of the film's protagonist, Dakota, portrayed by Haley Ramm. The film premiered at the 2014 Dallas International Film Festival.^[29] In 2015, she had a supporting role in the Oscar-nominated film Brooklyn.^[30] In 2016, she appeared in Slumber, starring alongside Darby Stanchfield and Meaghan Rath. Filming took place in Los Angeles in May 2016.^[31] She also appeared in Axis.^[32] The film won the prize for outstanding achievement feature film at the 2017 Newport Beach Film Festival.^[33]^[34] She also appeared in the super-hero themed short film Sidekick, directed by Arrowverse alum Jeff Cassidy.^[35]

In 2018, she appeared in the comedy, Funny Story.^[36] The film was runner-up at the Slamdance Film Festival in January 2018,^[37] in the festival's 'Beyond' programme.^[38] It also won the Stolman audience award for best American indie at the 2018 Sonoma International Film Festival;^[39] the audience award for best narrative feature at the Vero Beach Wine and Film Festival;^[40] best feature at the Santorini Film Festival;^[41] and the grand jury prize at the Barcelona Film Festival.^[42] At the Southampton International Film Festival, Rickards was nominated for leading actress in a feature. In May 2019, she appeared in the indie film, We Need to Talk,^[43] co-starring James Maslow, and written and directed by Todd Wolfe. It was an official selection at the FirstGlance Film Festival in Philadelphia, in November 2020^[44] and Rickards was named best actress in a feature.^[45]

In 2024, Rickards reunited with Amell in the western Calamity Jane, a fictionalized story based around the life of Martha Jane Canary, known as Calamity Jane.^[46] She appeared in French film, Autumn and the Black Jaguar, as supporting character and will also appear in Queen of the Ring, a biopic movie about female wrestler Mildred Burke, where she portrays the lead role.^[47]

Other works

In early 2016, she appeared in the Canadian webseries Paranormal Solutions, Inc., which was launched online in April of the same year.^[48] In June, she appeared in an episode of the fifth season of IFC comedy Comedy Bang! Bang!.^[49] In May 2018, she appeared in Reborning for Reality Curve Theatre Group at the Annex Theatre in Vancouver.^[50] The production premiered on June 20, 2018.^[51] In April 2019, she reprised her role in Reality Curve's Off-Broadway production at New York's SoHo Playhouse, in July and August of the same year.^[52]^[53] In September 2018, she narrated an audiobook of The Wicked Ones, originally published as part of the Ghosts of the Shadow Market anthology, which is also part of The Mortal Instruments series.^[54]

Philanthropy

In 2016, Rickards launched a T-shirt campaign in support of the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA) through the crowd funding merchandise site Represent.com, with all proceeds going to the charity.^[55]

During season four of Arrow, her character was paralyzed from the waist down following a shooting incident, later regaining the ability to walk through the use of a prototype microchip. Rickards filmed a PSA in conjunction with the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation advocating for advancements in the treatment of spinal injuries.^[56]

In February 2019, the Vancouver Film School announced the "Emily Bett Rickards Acting Scholarship", a partnership between the school and Rickards, to fund a full scholarship for the school's acting programs, as well as partial funding of $250,000 for other students. She will select the scholarship recipients.^[57]