Danielle Riley Keough (/ˈkiːoʊ/ KEE-oh; born May 29, 1989) is an American actress. She made her feature film debut at age 20, appearing in a supporting part in the musical biopic The Runaways (2010), portraying Marie Currie. She subsequently starred in the independent thriller The Good Doctor (2011), before being cast in a minor role in Steven Soderbergh's comedy film Magic Mike (2012). She had her first big-budget release in the action feature Mad Max: Fury Road (2015).
In 2016, Keough had her breakthrough role as an escort in the first season of the anthology series The Girlfriend Experience, earning a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress. Her performance as a wayward young woman in the drama American Honey (2016) earned her further acclaim, including an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Female. She went on to star in the horror film It Comes at Night (2017), Soderbergh's heist film Logan Lucky (both 2017), and had further horror film appearances in The House That Jack Built (2018) and The Lodge (2019). Following a leading role in the comedy-drama Zola (2020), Keough co-directed the drama War Pony (2022), which won the Caméra d'Or. She has since starred in the thriller series The Terminal List (2022).
Keough is currently starring as the title character in the drama series Daisy Jones & The Six (2023).
Early life
Keough was born on May 29, 1989, at Providence Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California. She is the eldest child of singer-songwriter Lisa Marie Presley (1968–2023) and musician Danny Keough, and the eldest grandchild of Elvis Presley and actress and businesswoman Priscilla Presley. Keough's father met her mother while performing as a bass guitarist in her mother's band. She had a brother, Benjamin Storm Keough (1992–2020), and has two half-sisters, twins Harper and Finley, from her mother's fourth marriage to Michael Lockwood. According to Keough, her father's ancestry is Irish and mostly Sephardic Jewish (Portuguese-Jewish) and Ashkenazi Jewish (Eastern European Jews), whereas her maternal grandfather, Elvis Presley, was allegedly of Creek, Cherokee, Scots-Irish and Norman descent; Keough's maternal grandmother, Priscilla, is of part Norwegian descent.
When Keough was five years old, her parents divorced, and her mother was briefly married to Michael Jackson from 1994 to 1996. Of her upbringing, Keough said that she "grew up very privileged with my mother, but my dad didn't live like that. And I think experiencing both sides has been helpful. My father had mattresses on the floor of his apartments. He lived in cabins and trailer parks. He just didn't have much money... Actually, my memories of growing up with him were so colourful and eccentric and fun. It was a good vibe, you know? When I was like eight I told him, 'I want to grow up and be poor like you!' He was eating a bowl of cereal. I didn't realize how wildly offensive that was!" Keough was raised primarily by her father in Hawaii and Los Angeles, though she at times lived at her mother's Los Angeles home, as well as at the Graceland Estate in Memphis, Tennessee, which was inherited by her mother following her grandfather Elvis's death.
In 2002, when Keough was 13 years old, her mother married actor Nicolas Cage, though this marriage was also short-lived, ending two years later in divorce. For a time, Keough attended a public school in the San Fernando Valley, but was ultimately homeschooled due to her having to frequently travel between her parents' homes.