Riley Keough's Real Name: Danielle Riley Keough

Quick answer: Riley Keough's full name is Danielle Riley Keough. She goes by her middle name, Riley. She was born on May 29, 1989, in Santa Monica, California. Her parents are Lisa Marie Presley and musician Danny Keough, and she is the eldest grandchild of Elvis and Priscilla Presley. She starred in The Girlfriend Experience, American Honey, Zola, and Daisy Jones & the Six, and she co-directed War Pony (Library of Congress; Biography.com).

Real name and early life

The Library of Congress name authority files her as "Keough, Riley, 1989-," citing "Riley Keough; actress, model; born May 29, 1989, in Los Angeles, Calif. as Danielle Riley Keough." Biography.com lists her full name as Danielle Riley Keough and her birthplace as Santa Monica, as does the Golden Globes profile. Santa Monica is in Los Angeles County.

Biography.com says she never met Elvis, who died 12 years before she was born. She was five when her parents divorced. She and her younger brother, Benjamin, split time between their father's homes in Los Angeles and Hawaii and their mother's homes in Los Angeles and at Graceland. Her travels made regular schooling difficult, and she was homeschooled. She began modeling as a teen, walking for Dolce & Gabbana and Tommy Hilfiger, and in 2005 became the face of Miss Dior Chérie.

Career highlights

Keough made her film debut as Marie Currie in The Runaways (2010), opposite Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning. She then worked with Steven Soderbergh on Magic Mike (2012) and appeared in Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). Her breakthrough was Soderbergh's Starz series The Girlfriend Experience (2016), which earned a Golden Globe nomination. She followed with American Honey (2016), which brought a Spirit Award nod, Logan Lucky (2017), It Comes at Night (2017), and The Lodge (2019). In Zola (2020) she gave a fearless turn as Stefani.

With producer Gina Gammell she formed Felix Culpa in 2017. The two co-directed War Pony (2022), which won the Caméra d'Or at Cannes. Her lead role in Prime Video's Daisy Jones & the Six (2023), for which she sang lead vocals, earned an Emmy nomination. In 2024 she played journalist Rebecca Godfrey in Under the Bridge.

Her brother, Benjamin, died in 2020, and her mother died in January 2023. After a settlement with her grandmother Priscilla, Keough became sole trustee of the trust that controls her mother's estate, including Graceland. She completed her mother's memoir, From Here to the Great Unknown (2024). She married Australian stuntman Ben Smith-Petersen in 2015, and they have a daughter.

Name notes for searchers

Danielle is her legal first name, but she is known by her middle name, Riley. Keough is her father's surname, which is why she is not a Presley by name.