Danielle Rose Russell became one of The CW’s defining young stars of the late 2010s when she took on the role of Hope Mikaelson, the half-vampire, half-werewolf, half-witch “tribrid” at the center of The Originals and its spin-off series Legacies. For five years, Russell carried a fan-beloved supernatural franchise built on the legacy of The Vampire Diaries, transforming from a teenage newcomer into the anchor of an entire fictional universe.
Before stepping into the world of vampires and witches, Russell had already built a respectable filmography working alongside major stars including Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, and Emma Stone. Her path from regional New Jersey theater and print modeling to leading a network drama illustrates how quickly a young performer’s career can accelerate with the right combination of talent and timing.
Russell’s story resonates with fans who watched her grow up on screen, from a supporting child actress in 2014’s A Walk Among the Tombstones to a series lead navigating the pressures of fame, fandom, and creative identity by her early twenties.
Profile
| Full Name | Danielle Rose Russell |
| Born | October 31, 1999 |
| Age | 26 years old |
| Birthplace | Pequannock Township, New Jersey, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Actress, Former Model |
| Parents | Rosemary Rado (former Rockette dancer) and Ricky Russell (former singer) |
Early Life
Danielle Rose Russell was born on October 31, 1999, in Pequannock Township, New Jersey, and raised in nearby West Milford. She is the daughter of Rosemary Rado, a former dancer who performed with the Radio City Rockettes, and Ricky Russell, a former singer, giving her an early exposure to performance through her parents’ own creative backgrounds.
Around the age of ten, a friend of her mother’s suggested that Danielle pursue modeling, which led to a steady stream of agent calls, commercial bookings, and print work by the time she was twelve. Alongside modeling, Russell developed a passion for regional theater, an interest that eventually pulled her toward film and television rather than a long-term modeling career.
Russell has described herself as having deep Italian heritage on her family’s side, noting a lifelong desire to learn traditional bread-making from her grandparents, a detail she has shared in interviews as an example of the close family ties that shaped her upbringing in New Jersey.
Career
Russell’s first film role came in 2014’s psychological thriller A Walk Among the Tombstones, in which she played the fourteen-year-old daughter of a Russian drug dealer opposite Liam Neeson and Dan Stevens, a striking debut for a performer who was only thirteen years old during filming. The following year, she appeared in Cameron Crowe’s Aloha as the daughter of Rachel McAdams’s character, sharing scenes with Bradley Cooper and Emma Stone in a major studio release.
She continued building television experience with six episodes of Amazon’s The Last Tycoon in 2016, before taking a supporting role in the acclaimed 2017 drama Wonder, alongside Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson. That same year marked a turning point in her career: Russell was cast as the teenage version of Hope Mikaelson in the fifth and final season of The CW’s The Originals, stepping into a major role within an established supernatural franchise with a passionate existing fanbase.
In 2018, it was announced that Russell would continue playing Hope Mikaelson as the lead of Legacies, a spin-off following the daughter of Klaus Mikaelson as she navigated a supernatural boarding school. The series premiered on October 25, 2018, and ran for four seasons until its conclusion on June 16, 2022, with Russell anchoring the show throughout its entire run. Her performance earned her a Teen Choice Award nomination for Choice Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Actress in 2019, recognizing her central role in sustaining the broader Vampire Diaries television universe for a new generation of viewers.
Carrying a long-running genre series as its lead presented Russell with creative challenges distinct from her earlier supporting film work. She has spoken about the responsibility of introducing new mythology for Legacies to succeed independently of its predecessor shows, noting that her prior film roles had never involved navigating an established and deeply invested fandom in the way her work on The CW required. Co-starring alongside Matthew Davis, Aria Shahghasemi, Kaylee Bryant, Quincy Fouse, and Jenny Boyd, Russell helped build an ensemble that maintained the franchise’s loyal viewership across all four seasons, even as the show shifted its mythology and tone from its predecessor series.
Following Legacies‘ cancellation in 2022, Russell spoke candidly about the emotional weight of the show ending, noting that she had played Hope Mikaelson continuously since she was seventeen years old and that the role had shaped much of her adolescence and early adulthood. Since the series concluded, she has maintained a lower public profile, with industry observers noting her continued reflection on her long-term career direction following such an intensive, years-long commitment to a single character.
Awards & Nominations
- Teen Choice Award nomination, Choice Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Actress (2019) — for Legacies
Personal Life
Russell has largely kept her romantic relationships private throughout her career, with public attention instead focused on her professional journey and her reflections on growing up within the spotlight of a major fandom. In interviews following the end of Legacies, she spoke about feeling like “a totally different person” by the time the show wrapped, having played Hope Mikaelson for five years spanning some of the most formative years of her young adult life.
She has remained close with several of her Legacies co-stars since the show’s conclusion, with cast members occasionally reconnecting publicly. Russell has used the years since the show ended to take a step back from constant public visibility, a choice she has described as part of figuring out what she wants from her career going forward. She has acknowledged in interviews that questioning her long-term path within acting became more pronounced as she transitioned from her teenage years into early adulthood, a reflection that many former child and teen stars have echoed when discussing life after a defining long-running role.
Net Worth
Russell’s net worth has not been officially disclosed, though entertainment estimates place her earnings in the low millions, built primarily from her five years as a lead actress on a network television series, supplemented by earlier film roles in studio productions including Aloha and Wonder. Her income during her years on Legacies would have included a recurring series-regular salary typical of long-running CW dramas, in addition to past modeling and commercial work from her childhood. As the lead of a series that ran for four full seasons, her compensation would also have grown over the course of the show’s run, a common pattern for young actors anchoring long-running network productions.
Notable Works & Achievements
Filmography
- A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014)
- Aloha (2015)
- The Last Tycoon (2016–2017)
- Wonder (2017)
- The Originals (2017–2018)
- Legacies (2018–2022)
Conclusion
Danielle Rose Russell’s career represents a rare case of a young actress growing up almost entirely within the world of a single supernatural franchise, carrying the legacy of The Vampire Diaries forward for a new generation of viewers.
Her ability to anchor Legacies for four full seasons, after stepping into the role as a teenager, speaks to a maturity and consistency that distinguished her among her CW peers.
With Legacies now several years in the rearview mirror, fans continue to watch closely for Russell’s next chapter, whether that means a return to the screen in a new project or a continued period of reflection following one of the most demanding young-actress runs in recent network television history.