Daisy Ridley

Daisy Jazz Isobel Ridley (born 10 April 1992) is an English actress. She rose to prominence for her role as Rey in the Star Wars sequel trilogy from 2015 until 2019. Following the Star Wars films, Ridley appeared in the mystery film Murder on the Orient Express (2017), and played Ophelia in the romantic drama Ophelia (2018). She had voice roles in the animated film Peter Rabbit (2018) and the video game Twelve Minutes (2021). She subsequently had leading roles in the science-fiction film Chaos Walking (2021), the independent drama Sometimes I Think About Dying (2023), and the psychological thriller The Marsh King's Daughter (2023). She also portrayed Gertrude Ederle in the biographical drama Young Woman and the Sea (2024).

Early life

Ridley was born on 10 April 1992 in the London borough of Westminster, and grew up in Maida Vale. She is the youngest of three daughters born to Christopher Ridley, a photographer, and Louise (née Fawkner-Corbett), who works in internal communications for a bank. She has two older sisters, Kika Rose and Poppy Sophia, as well as two older half-sisters. Her mother's family, the Fawkner-Corbetts, were landed gentry with a military and medical background. Her paternal great-uncle, Arnold Ridley, served in the military as well. He separately forged a career as a playwright and actor (and is best remembered for playing Private Godfrey in the sitcom Dad's Army). Arnold Ridley's brother, Daisy's grandfather, John Harry Dunn Ridley, OBE, was head of the Engineering Secretariat at the BBC from 1950 to 1965.

Ridley has stated that while growing up, her favourite film was Matilda (1996), and she viewed the character Matilda as a role model. While not a particularly strong Star Wars fan as a youth, she enthusiastically followed the Harry Potter series.

Ridley won a scholarship to Tring Park School for the Performing Arts in Hertfordshire, which she attended from ages nine to eighteen. She then studied classical civilisation at Birkbeck, University of London, before dropping out to focus on her acting career. Prior to being cast in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Ridley worked for more than a year as a bartender at two different pubs in London. In 2016, she began studying for a BA in social science through online courses with the Open University.

Career

2013–2015: Beginnings and Star Wars breakthrough

Ridley began her career with minor roles in the television programmes Youngers, Toast of London, Silent Witness, Mr Selfridge, and Casualty. She appeared in the short film Blue Season, which was entered into the Sci-Fi-London 48-Hour Film Challenge. Ridley played the lead in film three of Lifesaver, an interactive film which was nominated for a BAFTA Award. She also appeared in the music video for Wiley's song "Lights On", playing the character of Kim. Ridley made her film debut in the 2015 British independent horror film Scrawl, after her scenes from the British comedy film The Inbetweeners 2 were removed in the final cut.

In April 2014, the casting of Ridley as Rey, one of the lead characters in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, was announced. She was cast for the film in February 2014. At the time of her casting she was, according to Rolling Stone, a "total unknown". Her choice by director J. J. Abrams was seen as a repeat of George Lucas' move of casting relatively unknown actors for the lead roles in the first Star Wars film in 1977.

Ridley began filming her scenes in May 2014 at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, and prior to the film's release in December 2015, she appeared at the launch of a set of Star Wars postage stamps issued by the UK postal service Royal Mail, with her character Rey featuring on a stamp along with the droid BB-8. With international revenues of over $2 billion, The Force Awakens was a major box-office hit and the highest-grossing film of 2015. Her performance received critical acclaim, with Richard Roeper describing her portrayal as "a breakout performance" and adding "[Harrison] Ford has a terrific father figure chemistry [shared] with Ridley and [John] Boyega".

2016–present: Continuing career

Ridley became the executive producer of the documentary The Eagle Huntress in January 2016, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on 24 January 2016; she also recorded narration for the film's wide release. Ridley was one of several actors featured on Barbra Streisand's 2016 album Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway. Along with Anne Hathaway, Ridley and Streisand perform the song "At the Ballet" from A Chorus Line, with Ridley performing the role of Bebe, one of a trio of dancers hoping to be cast in a forthcoming show.

In 2017, Ridley portrayed Mary Debenham in Murder on the Orient Express, an adaptation of Agatha Christie's detective novel of the same name. Directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh, production began in London in November 2016. She also reprised her role as Rey, opposite Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which was released in December 2017.

In January 2018, Ridley starred in the titular role in Ophelia, a reimagining of the Hamlet tale, alongside Naomi Watts and Clive Owen. The project was filmed from April to July 2017 and debuted at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. In February 2018, Ridley voiced the role of Cottontail in Peter Rabbit, an adaptation of the children's stories of the same name by Beatrix Potter.

In December 2019, Ridley appeared as Rey in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the last film in the sequel trilogy. She initially said she would not reprise her role again after this film, and is quoted as saying, "I don't think anything could top [The Rise of Skywalker] for this character." However, she does show interest in returning as the character if needed, saying "[...] never say never. I'm always open to a revisit. But also the beautiful thing is it's this wonderful, huge universe with all of these stories that have yet to be told. I think there's a lot of cool things to be made before any potential revisit." She also saw some truth in her co-star Boyega's claim that she would feel jealous if subsequent films were made with somebody else playing Rey.

In 2021, Ridley co-starred in the film Chaos Walking, an adaption of the young-adult novel by Patrick Ness. She played Viola Eade, opposite Tom Holland who played Todd Hewitt. The film was released on 5 March 2021. The film had been delayed occasionally due to poor test screenings that followed the film's reshoots, and later due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It received negative reviews and was a box-office flop.

She lent her voice to the point-and-click mystery video game Twelve Minutes, alongside James McAvoy and Willem Dafoe. The game received positive reviews, with Ridley's performance being praised by critics. She also made a surprise appearance in Judd Apatow's 2022 movie, The Bubble, as Kate, a horny AI. The film received negative reviews.

In July 2023, Ridley was announced as the host of a True Spies podcast miniseries about Lee Harvey Oswald.

Ridley started filming the lead role in The Marsh King's Daughter in Ontario, Canada on 7 June 2021. Filming wrapped on 6 August 2021.

She voices a character in the French stop motion animated film The Inventor, which was released in the United States on 15 September 2023, and set for a French theatrical release in 2024. In 2021–22, she shot an indie film titled Sometimes I Think About Dying in Astoria, Oregon, with Rachel Lambert directing and Ridley additionally serving as a first-time main producer on the project. She starred in Magpie, a contemporary noir thriller written by her partner Tom Bateman, based on Ridley's original story idea. She also starred in a biopic for Walt Disney Pictures titled Young Woman and the Sea in the role of Gertrude Ederle.

Upcoming projects

In October 2021, Ridley signed on for a sci-fi mystery thriller film called Mind Fall with Mathieu Kassovitz attached to direct.

On 7 April 2023, it was revealed at Star Wars Celebration that Ridley would reprise her role as Rey in an upcoming untitled Star Wars film directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy with Ridley appearing on stage.

In March 2025, it was announced that Ridley would star alongside Alden Ehrenreich in the upcoming romantic comedy The Last Resort, directed by Donald Petrie. Production began in April.

Personal life

Ridley resides in Primrose Hill, London. Since 2017, she has been in a relationship with actor Tom Bateman, whom she met on the set of Murder on the Orient Express. In January 2023, during the Sundance Film Festival, Ridley confirmed that she and Bateman had married.