25 years after 'Jurassic Park,' star Ariana Richards (Lex) still gets recognized

The "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" premiere Tuesday welcomed plenty of familiar faces from the first "Jurassic" movie: Steven Spielberg, Jeff Goldblum, B.D.Wong and, is that... Could it be?

Yes, it was Lex, aka Ariana Richards.

"Sometimes it takes (people) a second, but surprisingly I still get recognized as Lex," Richards told USA TODAY on the carpet.

The actress, now 38, played John Hammond's granddaughter who does plenty of screaming (and some light computer hacking) in 1993's "Jurassic Park."

"People actually come up to me. I don’t know how, after 25 years how this happens. I hope it keeps happening for a while," she said.

Richards said that when she was a preteen and got the role of Lex, she didn't have a special interest in dinosaurs. After "Jurassic" wrapped, however, she literally went looking for dinosaur bones with paleontologist Jack Horner.

"He would hang out with me and teach me about dinosaur (on set)," Richards said. "After we filmed the movie, he invited me to his dig in Montana for four days of experiencing what it was like to actually dig for dinosaur bones, and I found a Velociraptor forearm with him. I was so excited. So I will always have a passion now to learn about dinosaurs."

WPXI