Maisie Williams

Margaret Constance "Maisie" Williams (born April 15, 1997) is an English actress. Williams made her acting debut in 2011 as Arya Stark, a lead character in the HBO epic medieval fantasy television series Game of Thrones (2011–2019). She gained recognition and critical praise for her work on the show and received two Emmy Award nominations. Williams' other television appearances include Ashildr in the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who (2015), starring in the British docudrama television film Cyberbully (2015), and in the British science-fiction teen thriller film iBoy (2017). She played the central character in the comedy action drama miniseries Two Weeks to Live (2020), and portrayed punk rock icon Jordan in Pistol (2022), a biopic about the Sex Pistols. Williams also voiced Cammie MacCloud in the American animated web series Gen:Lock (2019–2021).

In 2014, she starred as Lydia in her first feature film, the coming-of-age mystery drama The Falling, for which she received critical acclaim and several awards. She co-starred in films such as the romantic period-drama film Mary Shelley (2017), the animated prehistoric sports comedy film Early Man (2018), and the romantic comedy-drama film Then Came You (2018). In 2018, she made her stage debut in Lauren Gunderson's play I and You at the Hampstead Theatre in London, to positive reviews. In 2020, she starred in the superhero horror film The New Mutants and the psychological thriller The Owners.

In 2019, Williams jointly developed and launched the social media platform Daisie, a multi-media networking app designed to be an alternative means to help artists and creators (especially those who are trying to get started) in their careers.

Early life and education

Margaret Constance Williams was born in Bristol, England, on 15 April 1997 to Gary Williams and Hilary Frances (née Pitt), a university course administrator who later gave up her job to support her daughter's acting career. Williams' parents divorced when she was four months old. The youngest of four siblings—James, Beth, and Ted—Williams was raised by her mother and stepfather in a three-bedroom council house in the village of Clutton, Somerset. Williams has been known as "Maisie" from an early age, nicknamed because of her perceived likeness to the cartoon character from the UK newspaper comic strip The Perishers.

Williams went to Clutton Primary School and Norton Hill School in Midsomer Norton. Maisie joined Sue Hill Dance in Radstock and became a very active dancer, taking part in many events. She later transferred to BDC Bath Dance College in Radstock to study performing arts, where she trained in musical theatre, ballet, pointe, tap, street, freestyle, gymnastics, and trampolining, with the ambition of becoming a professional dancer. She left school at 14 years old, partly due to the successful start of her acting career. She was then home educated, but did not take any GCSEs.

Acting career

Debut, 2011–2019: Game of Thrones

At age 13, Williams began her professional acting career by co-starring in one of the largest ensemble casts on television. She was cast as Arya Stark, the feisty young daughter of a noble family in HBO's historical fantasy drama series Game of Thrones (based on George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire epic fantasy novel series). Williams almost missed the audition (her second in her career) because it coincided with a school trip to a farm; her mother convinced her to go to the audition. As the series viewership rose, the international popularity of Game of Thrones gave Williams global recognition.

The character of Arya Stark is regarded as an anti heroine, a fan favourite that developed into one of the central protagonists in the Game of Thrones fantasy epic. The character's story arc across the first six seasons encompasses severance, trauma, tragedy and revenge. The physical role required a young actor who could portray a deadly assassin. Williams, who is naturally right-handed but kept in character by performing left handed in the show, did the majority of her own stunts and fight scenes in the series. She was told a year before the filming of "The Long Night" to build up her stamina for the episode. Her performance in that episode was nominated for the 2020 BAFTA TV Awards under the "Must-see moment" category. Williams appeared in all eight broadcast seasons of Game of Thrones, the final episode of which aired in May 2019.

Williams has said that while she looks back at her role as Arya with pride and affection she did not miss that period of her personal life. Arya was not only younger than Williams was, but the role demanded that she was made to look boyish with short hair and make up, plus a strap across her chest that made Williams feel ashamed during her mid teen years as her feminine body developed. The character did not match who she was becoming in reality nor did Arya resemble what Williams believed to be attractive, and at the same time she resented her own body for not matching with that of her character's.

Critical reception

Williams received critical praise and recognition for her portrayal of Arya in the show. In 2012, the second year of her professional acting career, she was submitted in the category of Outstanding Supporting Actress for the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards by HBO, but did not make the nomination shortlist. She was awarded both the 2012 Portal Award for Best Young Actor and the Portal Award for Best Supporting Actress – Television (at 15 years, the youngest actress to achieve this). In November 2013, she received the BBC Radio 1 Teen Award for Best British Actor. August 2014 she was presented with "Best Supporting Actress, Drama" in the EWwy Awards. In 2015, she was awarded the Empire Hero Award, and the Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Television Series. In 2016 she reached the nomination short list for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. In 2018 Williams was nominated for the Best Performance in a Show in the MTV Movie & TV Awards. In 2019 her performance in the final season of the drama resulted in her again receiving the Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor in a Television Series, as well as nominations for the Best Hero and Best Fight in the MTV Movie & TV Awards and People's Choice Awards for The Female TV Star and The Drama TV Star. In the same year Williams achieved her second nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, Daniel D'Addario from Variety said that Williams "entered the show as a child with minimal experience, but swiftly proved herself a very gifted performer... Millions watched her grow into her talents – and a fitting end to her very unusual journey through her first role" would be for her to win an Emmy.

Ongoing acting career

2012–2015: The Falling, Cyberbully and Doctor Who

In 2012, Williams portrayed Loren Caleigh in the three part BBC supernatural thriller series The Secret of Crickley Hall. Williams took part in The Olympic Ticket Scalper, a Funny or Die skit. She also appeared in the independent film Heatstroke (2012), and the short film Up on the Roof (2013).

In 2014, Williams played the lead role of Lydia in the British melodramatic coming of age mystery film drama The Falling, set in an all-girls school, for which she was awarded the London Film Critics' Circle Award for Young Performer of the Year, Evening Standard British Film Award Rising Star and the European Shooting Stars Award at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival for her role in Carol Morley's feature. The film premiered at the BFI London Film Festival on 11 October 2014, and was released theatrically on 24 April 2015 in the UK. Guy Lodge of Variety described Williams as "prodigiously gifted" and giving a "brilliantly articulated ... bristling, often spikily funny performance." In 2014, she also played Abbie in the Irish comedy-drama film Gold.

In January 2015, Williams (a victim of cyberbullying herself) starred as Casey Jacobs in the one-hour-long BAFTA nominated Cyberbully, a Channel 4 docudrama television film. Writing for The Guardian, Filipa Jodelka described Williams' central, almost solo, performance as a "tour-de-force". In 2015, Williams guest starred in four episodes of series 9 of the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who ("The Girl Who Died", "The Woman Who Lived", "Face the Raven" and "Hell Bent"), in the recurring role of Ashildr, a Viking girl made immortal by the Doctor. Williams' performance in "The Woman Who Lived" was described as "superb" by Patrick Mulkern of the Radio Times.