Denise Richards was born on February 17, 1971 in Downers Grove near Chicago, Illinois. Daughter of an engineer, she spent her childhood in the suburbs of Chicago with her little sister. She was a teenager when the family moved to California, to Oceanside. Her small size does not allow her to break into modeling, so she decides to turn to the cinema.
In the early 90s, she made her debut on television, and appeared in several TV series; Saved by the Bell, Seinfeld, Married, two children. After a few small roles in the cinema, she was revealed thanks to the science fiction film Starship Troopers by Paul Verhoeven in 1997. She played alongside Neve Campbell and Matt Dillon in Sexcrimes (1998), and joined the cast of the 19th James Bond, The World Is Not Enough (1999) alongside Pierce Brosnan. Her career was launched, and in 2001, she joined season 6 of the Spin City series for several episodes. In 2003, she then joined the series Mon oncle Charlie.
In the years that followed, the actress moved away from film sets for some time to devote herself to her personal life. She chooses her roles sparingly and appears less often on the big screen (Scary Movie 3, Jolene). At the same time, faced with the celebrity press which dissects her private life, the actress chooses to respond by staging herself in her own reality TV show; Not easy being Denise Richards (2008–2009).
In 2008, she joined the cast of Dancing with the stars but the show did not allow her to return to the front of the stage. She continues with TV movies (The Castaways of the Blue Lagoon, The Black Widow, In My Father's Skin), and appears in series (Anger Management, Beverly Hills: New Generation, Twisted) but does not return to success. In 2018, she returned to the front of the stage and joined the reality show Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
On the private side, she met actor Charlie Sheen on the set of the Spin city series. The couple married in June 2002, and gave birth to two daughters; Sam (born March 2004) and Lola (born June 2005). But the couple's tumultuous relationship led the actress to initiate divorce proceedings the year her second daughter was born. The divorce judgment was pronounced in November 2006. In June 2011, she adopted a child, a girl named Eloise, aged one month. In 2012, she had a romance with guitarist Richie Sambora from Bon Jovi. On September 8, 2018, after a few months of relationship, she married Aaron Phypers in Malibu.
