Why You Recognize PONIES Star Haley Lu Richardson
Haley Lu Richardson plays Twila on Peacock's spy show PONIES. Find out where you've seen her before.
Haley Lu Richardson is no stranger to playing characters whose lives are put in danger on deadly overseas work trips.
The actress stars in the 1977-set spy thriller series PONIES as Twila, a CIA agent's wife who's told that her husband died under mysterious circumstances while stationed in Moscow. Instead of returning to an aimless life in the U.S., Twila and Bea (Emilia Clarke) — who is in the same situation as Twila — offer themselves up as CIA operatives so that they can try to get some answers about their husbands' deaths.
As Twila and Bea are tasked with spying on members of the KGB in the Peacock original series, their lives are put in danger on way more than one occasion.
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Among Richardson's past acting roles, she's perhaps most famous for playing another young woman who came close to death while on the job abroad.
Keep reading to find out where you may have seen Richardson before PONIES — which is now streaming in full on Peacock — and what her most famous roles are.
What TV shows and films are Haley Lu Richardson best known for?
Before PONIES, Richardson was best known for her role in Season 2 of the anthology series The White Lotus in 2022. On the dark comedy/drama show, she played Portia, personal assistant to Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge), who accompanied the uber-wealthy Tanya to Sicily. Tanya died after falling off a boat that a group of guys lured her on as part of a murder plot to steal her money. Portia was lucky to get out alive after the group assigned Jack (Leo Woodall) — a love interest for Portia — to distract her.
As for some of Richardson's other notable projects, she starred alongside Hailee Steinfeld in 2016's coming-of-age film The Edge of Seventeen, and in the psychological thriller film Split, which came out the same year. Not too long after those projects, Richardson had a starring role in the 2018 comedy flick Support the Girls, and 2019's romantic drama film Five Feet Apart, opposite Cole Sprouse.
Richardson also starred in films like Unpregnant (2020), Montana Story (2021) and Love at First Sight (2023), and made headlines when she starred in the music video for the Jonas Brothers song "Wings" in 2023. She also previously made an appearance as a unibrowed dancer in Aly & AJ's 2019 music video for "Star Maps."
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Haley Lu Richardson's early roles
One of Richardson's earliest roles was as a dancer on the teen sitcom Shake It Up in 2013. She had been trained as a dancer as a child, and also danced in the 2012 video game Just Dance: Disney Party. Her first major TV role was a recurring part on the Pretty Little Liars spin-off series Ravenswood, which debuted in 2013, followed by an episode of Awkward in 2014 and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 2015.
After a series of TV movies like Christmas Twister (2012) and Escape from Polygamy (2013), Richardson starred in The Last Survivors (2014) and played Melissa Rauch's gymnastics rival in 2015's The Bronze.
After that, she starred in several episodes of Recovery Road (2016) and Jane the Virgin (2019).
Currently, you can catch Richardson in her co-starring role as Twila on PONIES, with all eight episodes streaming on Peacock!
