Award-winning actress Emily Bett Rickards has quickly become known in the entertainment industry for her ability to bring diverse and engaging characters to life on screen. Rickards landed her breakout role as quick-witted IT expert/hacker Felicity Smoak on the CW’s hit series Arrow in 2012, turning a one-episode guest star into a starring role that has now spanned seven seasons. Named one of The Hollywood Reporter’s 50 Favorite Female Characters of All Time, Rickards has also garnered a handful of award nominations for her work on the show including multiple Teen Choice Awards: Female Breakout Star, Choice Actress in a Fantasy/SciFi, Choice Action Actress, as well as nominations for the prestigious Canadian Leo Awards in the category of Best Performance by a Female in a Dramatic Series (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017).

Rickards’ portrayal of the humorous, brainy, and inspiring Smoak has also crossed over into other series on the network, appearing on The Flash, Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow, linking all four shows together. Arrow has also become a smash success internationally, airing in over 70 countries. Rickards’ arc as Felicity concluded with the Season 7 finale of Arrow in May 2019.

This past summer, Rickards starred in an off-Broadway production of Zayd Dohrn’s play Reborning, which ran at the Soho Playhouse from 5 July – 3 August, 2019. On the film front, Rickards starred in the indie dramedy Funny Story written/directed by Michael Gallagher (Internet Famous, The Thinning), which premiered at the 2018 Slamdance Film Festival and garnered her a nomination for Best Lead Actress in a Feature at the 2018 Southampton Film Festival. She can also be seen co-starring in the 2019 psychological thriller The Clinic from Diablo Entertainment (Sleight, Flower, Carnage Park,) opposite Darby Stanchfield and Megan Rath. Rickards lent her voice to the starring role of Caitlin in Aisha Tyler’s directorial debut, AXIS, which was the recipient of the Outstanding Achievement in Filmmaking Award at the 2017 Newport Beach Film Festival.

In 2015, Rickards co-starred opposite Saoirse Ronan in the Academy Award nominated feature Brooklyn directed by BAFTA-winner John Crowley. She was a scene-stealer as Patty, the sole American girl in a boarding house full of Irish immigrants. Brooklyn was nominated for dozens of awards, including Best Picture, at the 2016 Academy Awards.

Rickards is a graduate of the Vancouver Film School Acting Essentials Program (VFS) whose alumni include directors Neil Bomkamp, Neil Kopp and Kevin Smith. When she isn’t on set, Rickards loves to keep her creative juices flowing and is constantly reading books, scripts, plays and stories to assist her with expanding her arsenal of undercover personas ready for access when need be. She is also in the process of writing a handful of projects, nourishing her love of creating stories from the ground up. In between filming and writing, you can find Rickards taking yoga or pilates classes, traveling with friends and hanging out with her dog Ophelia.

Rickards currently splits her time between Los Angeles and Vancouver, B.C.