Richards was born in London in the area called South Kensington. She was named as Dakota Blue since her mother wanted a name that combines the color and the place. The family moved to live to Sussex after sometime. While at school, she was in the drama classes and became an active participant of the class plays or class assemblies. While in the class, she attended primary drama in her school and she sometime refused to go to the classes so that she can attend the audition.  When she finished the primary school at St Paul, she went to Blatchington Mill School in the Hove and on K-Bis Theatre School.

When she was still nine years, she liked His Dark Materials book that was being read by her mother to her and she thought that she can be her. When she saw the stage adaption of the book in National Theatre, she said to herself that she wanted to be Lyra. She got the private tutoring from two different individual tutors for the set.

Philip Pullman is the author of the books and she said that when she saw Dakota at the screen test, she said to himself that the search is over.  Chris Weitz is the director and he said that she made it easy to make a decision.  For Skins, she played as Franky Fitzgerald and she is clever timid and also isolated teenager, in the series five and six for the E4.  While doing the audition, she wanted to play for Liv Malone and she decided to be Franky at the end of the audition.  She was the member of a third generation for the young cast and she was the first to be revealed on 2010.  She appeared in other roles which are The Secret of Moonacre.  She was in a British Indie feature film called Bristol and Cornwall where she was Eloise, a daughter of Anglican Priest. She also played in The Quiet Hour which is a sci-fi thriller.

Dakota Blue Richards posed naked for the Ocean 2012 , which is  campaign meant to prevent the overfishing. In the shoot called naked Celebrities.  She modeled also for Immortal Sorapol. When she is free, she likes to make art especially the abstract and modern style. She was bullied because she painted the hair red for The Golden Compass’s roles.  She is in the support of Action for Children which is a UK charity and it helps the vulnerable Youth to break out the deprivation and injustice. She supports The Young Actors Group and it is an acting school of Brighton and it opened in the year 2014 to train the teenagers and the children so that they may train professionally while on screen or on stage.