Early life

Daisy Ridley was born on 10 April 1992, in Westminster, London. She is the youngest of three daughters born to Louise Fawkner-Corbett and Chris Ridley. She has two older sisters, Kika Rose and Poppy Sophia. She also has two older half-sisters from her father's first marriage. Her mother's family, the Fawkner-Corbetts, were landed gentry with a military and medical background. Her great-uncle was Dad's Army actor and playwright Arnold Ridley. Growing up her favourite film was Matilda (1996), an adaptation of Roald Dahl's celebrated children's story, with the title character a role model to her. Ridley won a scholarship to Tring Park School for the Performing Arts in Hertfordshire, which she attended between the ages of 9 and 18. She then began to study classical civilisation at Birkbeck, University of London before dropping out to concentrate on her acting career.

Career

Ridley began her career with minor roles in the television programmes Youngers, Toast of London, 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. Ridley 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, as well as the first of the Star Wars prequel trilogy in 1999. At the time of her casting she was, according to Rolling Stone, a "total unknown." 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 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. After an early screening of the film, Brian Viner of the Daily Mail called Ridley the "real star of the show," adding that her performance as Rey should "send her career into orbit." Her performance received critical acclaim, with Richard Roeper describing her portrayal as "a breakout performance".

Ridley voiced the lead role of Taeko in the English dub of the 1991 animated film Only Yesterday, released on 1 January 2016 in New York City and scheduled for release throughout the US on 26 February. She will also continue her role as Rey in Star Wars: Episode VIII, which is scheduled to be released in December 2017.

Personal life

Ridley is currently dating British actor Charlie Hamblett. She has a tattoo of three stars on her left foot that she got when she was 15, a tattoo of the alchemical symbol of air on her upper right thigh, and a peace symbol tattoo behind her right ear. Ridley also owns a dog called Muffin. She was voted No. 1 on AskMen.com's Crush List 2016, and also appeared in People magazine's World's Most Beautiful 2016 list.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2013	Lifesaver	Jo	Short film
2013	Blue Season	Sarah	Short film
2013	100% BEEF	Girl	Short film
2013	Crossed Wires	Her	Short film
2015	Scrawl	Hannah
2015	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	Rey
2016	Only Yesterday	Taeko Okajima (voice)	English dub
2017	Star Wars: Episode VIII	Rey	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2013	Casualty	Fran Bedingfield	Episode: "And the Walls Come Tumbling Down"
2013	Youngers	Jessie	Episode: "A to B and the Apology"
2013	Toast of London	Charlotte	Episode: "Vanity Project"
2014	Silent Witness	Hannah Kennedy	2 episodes
2014	Mr Selfridge	Roxy Starlet	Episode: "2.8"
2015	Saturday Night Live	Herself	Segment: "Star Wars Auditions"

Music videos

Year	Artist(s)	Title	Role
2013	Wiley	"Lights On"	Kim

Video games

Year	Title	Voice role	Notes
2015	Disney Infinity 3.0	Rey	Star Wars: The Force Awakens playset
2016	Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens	Rey

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
2015	Zed Fest Film Festival	Outstanding Acting Performance	Scrawl	Won
	Florida Film Critics Circle	FCC Breakout Award	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	Won
2016	Central Ohio Film Critics Association	Breakthrough Film Artist		Nominated
	Georgia Film Critics Association	Breakthrough Award		Nominated
	EDA Awards	Best Female Action Star		Nominated
		Best Breakthrough Performance		Nominated
	Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Movie Actress		Nominated
	Empire Awards	Best Female Newcomer		Won
	MTV Movie Awards	Best Female Performance		Nominated
		Best Hero		Nominated
		Best Breakthrough Performance		Won
		Best Fight		Nominated
	Saturn Awards	Best Actress		Pending

[ Source: Wikipedia ]