Daisy Ridley – MovieActors.com
Ridley in Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.
About Daisy Ridley (1992 – )
Ridley was born on 10 April 1992, in Westminster, London, the daughter of Louise Fawkner-Corbett and Chris Ridley. Her great-uncle was actor and playwright Arnold Ridley, who played Private Godfrey in Dad's Army. Ridley attended Tring Park School for the Performing Arts in Hertfordshire, graduating in 2010.
Ridley has appeared in the television programs Youngers, Silent Witness, Mr Selfridge and Casualty. She also appeared in the short film "Blue Season," which was entered into the Sci-Fi-London 48-Hour Film Challenge. She played the lead in film three of Lifesaver, an interactive film which was nominated for a BAFTA Award. She has also appeared in the music video for Wiley's song "Lights On".
In April 2014, Ridley's casting as Rey, one of the lead characters in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, was announced. She was chosen for the film in February 2014. Her choice by director J. J. Abrams was seen as a repeat of George Lucas's move of casting relatively unknown actors for the lead roles in the first Star Wars film in 1977. At the time of her casting she was, according to Rolling Stone, a "total unknown", and according to Inc., had no IMDb bio, no Wikipedia article, and just a few hundred Instagram followers. In October 2015, Ridley appeared at the launch of a set of Star Wars postage stamps issued by the UK postal service Royal Mail, with Ridley's character Rey featuring in a stamp along with the droid BB-8. After an early screening of the film, Brian Viner of The Daily Mail called Daisy Ridley the "real star of the show", adding that her performance as Rey should "send her career into orbit".
Ridley will voice the lead role of Taeko in the English dub of the 1991 animated film Only Yesterday, scheduled to be released in 2016. Daisy will also continue her role as Rey in Star Wars Episode VIII, scheduled to be released in May 2017.
Daisy Ridley's movie credits include...
2013 Lifesaver Jo
2013 Blue Season Sarah
2013 100% BEEF
2013 Crossed Wires Her
2015 Scrawl Hannah
2015 Star Wars: The Force Awakens Rey
2016 Only Yesterday Taeko Okajima (voice)
Daisy Ridley's television credits include...
Show/Series
2013 Casualty Fran Bedingfield
2013 Youngers Jessie
2013 Toast of London Charlotte
2014 Silent Witness Hannah Kennedy
2014 Mr Selfridge Roxy Starlet
2015 Saturday Night Live Herself
Memorable Quotes
"[About where she grew up] London. And somebody did ask me if me and John [Boyega] got on because we're from the same place. We're not from the same place. He's from South London, I'm from West."
"[on her favorite location while filming Star Wars: The Force Awakens] Weirdly enough, probably Abu Dhabi, even though it was so hot, it was like you literally can't imagine that heat. The feeling of stepping onto a real set for the first time, it genuinely was a baptism of fire. To see creatures walking around and speeders chilling in the sand, that was amazing, and because I was shooting there, it was like everything had built up to that moment. So a few days in, I was like, OK. I'm getting my groove now."
"My great uncle was in Dad's Army. And I don't know if Americans will know that. It was a hugely popular show in England. They're redoing it as a film. Michael Gambon, who played Dumbledore [in the Harry Potter movies], is playing who my great uncle played. Both my parents are creative. My dad did act when he was younger, but they're both very creative." [...] "My mum works in internal communications at a bank, and my dad's a photographer."
"I went to a school called Tring Park School for the Performing Arts. I went because initially I was very naughty, and my mom thought if I was busy, I'd be better. And I didn't really do acting until later on in the school, with an amazing teacher. I left, went traveling, came back. And then it all kind of went from there."
She was cast in Youngers (2013) straight out of school.
Her great uncle is actor Arnold Ridley who played Godfrey in the long running British sitcom Dad's Army (1968).
Trained as a dancer and singer at the Tring Park School for the Performing Arts.
She appears in the music video for the song "Lights On" by Wiley (featuring Angel & Tinchy Stryder). The song was released in 2013.
Her character Rey is featured on a Star Wars postage stamp issued in October 2015 by the UK Royal Mail postal service.
Daisy Ridley and John Boyega in action in
Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015).
Daisy Ridley in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).
Ridley in the short film Blue Season (2013).
Daisy Ridley in Scrawl (2015).
Character Actors * SuperStar Index