Actress Haley Lu Richardson
On Nightly Routines, Barre Workouts & French Toast
Haley Lu Richardson is the kind of woman we want as our new best friend. We’re not exaggerating when we say that her ideal food day matches up perfectly with our’s (She even makes us want to start taking regular barre classes). We sat down with the up-and-comer to get the scoop on her new movie, Split (from the amazing M. Night Shyamalan), her favorite on-set snacks, and nightly routines. Read below for more from Richardson; she’s officially an honorary Potatohead…
From start to finish, what would be your ideal food day?
Oh my God, this is the best question I’ve ever been asked. I’m so passionate about food.
For breakfast, I’d go all out and make two fried eggs with sweet potatoes (diced really small so they get crispy) and bacon. Also, I’d make a side of stuffed French toast filled with cream cheese and berries!
Then, I would take an hour to digest and eat some sort of sushi for lunch. I love eel.
After that, I would probably just keep snacking all night until I fell asleep. My boyfriend makes these amazing roasted beans on a cookie sheet in the oven, so I’d have about three cans of that. Then some goat cheese and wine. If I get really hungry later I’d go to some steakhouse and order crab and lobster mac n cheese.
That just made me so hungry.
How do you practice beauty from the inside out?
I really do think the better you feel the better you look, not the other way around. So, I just try to not focus on the outer stuff and just do things that make me happy! I feel like I’d be miserable if I had to lift weights under the fluorescent lights at the gym every day, so I do things like dancing and hiking, which makes me sweat, but more importantly make me a happier person.
What are your morning and nightly beauty routines?
My friends have always made fun of me for having such a specific nightly routine! Even in high school if we would come home in the middle of the night and be sleeping at a friend’s house everyone would just pass out with their makeup on and I was that one kid who had a huge organized toiletry bag with my retainer, electric tooth brush, special toothpaste “for sensitive gums” and all my facial products.
I have been using the same products since I was twelve. I really love the oil-free Olay moisturizer, it also has sunscreen in it. I used to think that the more lotion I put on, the more oily I would get and the more zits I would get. But, I figured out that the more lotion I use the more my skin doesn’t feel like it has to overcompensate for the dryness and I don’t break out as much. I use coconut oil now too – you can use that stuff for everything.
What is a beauty mainstay that hasn’t changed since your teen years? Are there any beauty products you can’t live without?
I had my braces removed in 8th grade and I pretty much have worn my retainer every night since then. I swear I’m going to be eighty-five and still using that same one. It has the Beatles on the plastic part.
What are some of your go-to workouts? Workouts you find overrated?
I did competitive dance for ten years before I moved to LA so that is definitely still a big part of my life and how I stay healthy. I go to this place called Cardiobarre, which is a ballet inspired workout class with no impact. I have a couple of injuries from dance so I’m really thankful for that place.
How did you prep for your role in Split?
There honestly wasn’t much prep time because Night was really secretive, and I didn’t get the script until after I had accepted the role. By that time, we were filming in a couple of weeks. When you are doing a movie as crazy and intense as this, with a director as specific and experienced as Night, you just have to know your character inside and out and then show up and go with it.
The Split trailer has us totally spooked – Was shooting ever scary?
I never felt scared doing any of the scenes. Everyone around you makes it very clear you’re in good hands and you feel safe. But when the stakes are that high and you’re working against an actor that is so in it like James [McAvoy], it does feel pretty real. There were moments when I was off camera for someone’s eye line and at the end of the take I would be crying because I was so affected by everyone’s acting and the world we were living in.
What was it like working with M. Night Shyamalan?
Night is the first director I’ve done a movie with that has so much prior experience. He is an honest director who knows what he wants and gives specific directions.
How do you always start your day? What’s your go-to breakfast?
I try not to look at my phone first thing in the morning. I’m working this year on being less brainwashed by those things. I always drink a huge glass of water in the morning and either make a peanut butter smoothie or eggs.
Where do you love to travel? What won’t you travel without?
I love traveling with my boyfriend; it’s the best. Wherever we are we always want to do the same things and see the same places, so it’s like traveling alone but a lot more fun. I love nature and seeing different spots of the actual earth – not just a bunch of concrete and bricks.
What is the best advice you have ever received?
I think the best advice is to just remember everything passes. You can and will get through anything – which automatically makes you feel strong and capable.
You didn’t like X until you tried Y….
I didn’t like Birkenstocks until I tried Birkenstocks.
In the same vein as what is the new black in fashion, what’s the new potato right now?
Having a butt and thighs AMEN.
