Daphne María Keen Fernández (born 4 January 2005 in Madrid, Spain) is a British-Spanish actress.
She made her acting debut alongside her father Will Keen in the joint British-Spanish television series The Refugees. Her breakthrough role was Laura / X-23 in Logan.
Filmography:
- The Refugees (2014–2015) as Ana "Ani" Cruz Oliver
- Logan (2017) as Laura
- His Dark Materials (2019-2022) as Lyra Belacqua
- Ana (2020) as Ana
- The Acolyte (2024) as Jecki Lon
Tropes associated with Keen's work:
- Action Girl: Keen's background includes gymnastics, and due to the difficulties of finding a stunt double to match her size for Logan (she was only 4'11" and 90 lbs at the time), she ended up doing a lot of her own stunts and wire work. In fact, her first audition tape consisted of her climbing around on and leaping off her living room furniture.
- Actor-Shared Background: Like her character Laura/X-23, Dafne Keen is of mixed ancestry (British father, Spanish mother) and a native Spanish speaker (though Laura is Mexican with her biological father Logan being Canadian). Her casting was due to this.
- And Introducing: She is credited this way in Logan, both in the opening credits and in marketing material, since it's her first major role in a film.
- Bilingual Bonus/Cunning Linguist: Keen was raised fully bilingual by her English father and Spanish mother. This was utilized in Logan, in which Laura has dialogue in both languages. It also applies to accents: while she was born and lived in Spain until she was 5, her family moved to England afterwards. She has lost any Spanish accent she had, and now naturally speaks with a London English accent. In Logan, she gives Laura a strong Mexican Spanish accent.
