Daisy Ridley
Born April 10, 1992
Daisy Ridley is a British actress who became one of the most recognizable faces in global cinema almost overnight when she was cast as Rey — a desert scavenger with a mysterious destiny — in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015). She went from relative obscurity to headlining one of the most commercially successful film franchises in history in the span of a casting call.
Before Rey
Born on April 10, 1992, in Westminster, London, Daisy Jazz Isobel Ridley grew up in Maida Vale. She studied performing arts at the Tring Park School for the Performing Arts in Hertfordshire. Her early career consisted of small television roles — a few episodes of British dramas, a short film, a Duracell commercial — before she was cast in The Force Awakens after an extensive global search by director J.J. Abrams. She had almost no professional film credits when she landed the role. The announcement of her casting in 2014 generated immediate attention and scepticism, both of which she silenced rapidly.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) became the third-highest-grossing film of all time upon its release. Ridley's Rey was immediately embraced as a worthy successor to the franchise's classic heroes — capable, compelling, and not defined by the men around her. She reprised the role in The Last Jedi (2017) and The Rise of Skywalker (2019). Between Star Wars films she appeared in Kenneth Branagh's ensemble whodunit Murder on the Orient Express (2017) and the sci-fi film Chaos Walking (2021). She returned in The New Jedi Order (in development), continuing the story as a teacher of a new generation of Jedi.
Did You Know?
Daisy Ridley has spoken publicly about being diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and endometriosis, as well as coping with anxiety and body image pressures that came with sudden global fame. She has been candid that the explosive overnight success of The Force Awakens was disorienting: "I wasn't prepared for people to have an opinion about my eyebrows," she said in one interview. She has also discussed her complicated relationship with social media, eventually stepping away from Instagram in 2016, saying it made her feel unhappy more than it helped her.
Beyond Star Wars
Ridley has worked to diversify her resume beyond the saga that made her famous, including roles in stage productions, independent films, and ensemble projects. She is one of the few actors to bring a major franchise to life from scratch without any prior film stardom — a rare thing in modern Hollywood, where franchises tend to recruit known quantities. Saoirse Ronan, widely compared to Ridley as a peer in their generation of British and Irish actresses, called her "a brilliant actress with an instinct for truth." She continues to build one of the more interesting careers to emerge from the blockbuster era.