Daisy Ridley

Daisy Jazz Isobel Ridley is an English actress born on 10 April 1992 in the London borough of Westminster. She rose to international prominence for her starring role as Rey in the Star Wars sequel trilogy from 2015 to 2019. Following her breakthrough, she expanded her filmography across a wide variety of genres, including mystery, romance, animated projects, independent drama, and biographical films.

Ridley grew up in Maida Vale as the youngest of three daughters born to Christopher Ridley, a photographer, and Louise, an internal communications worker for a bank. Her great-uncle Arnold Ridley was a playwright and actor known for his role in the television sitcom Dad's Army. Ridley attended Tring Park School for the Performing Arts on a scholarship from ages nine to eighteen. She briefly studied classical civilisation at Birkbeck, University of London, before dropping out to pursue acting, and later began studying for a degree in social science with the Open University. Prior to landing major roles, she worked as a bartender at two London pubs.

Ridley began her professional career with minor roles in television series such as Youngers, Toast of London, Silent Witness, Mr Selfridge, and Casualty. She also appeared in short films, an interactive film titled Lifesaver, a music video, and the 2015 independent horror film Scrawl. In February 2014, director J. J. Abrams cast her as Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Released in December 2015, the film earned over $2 billion globally, becoming the highest-grossing film of 2015 and earning Ridley critical acclaim for her breakout performance.

Following her Star Wars debut, Ridley executive produced and narrated the documentary The Eagle Huntress (2016) and featured on Barbra Streisand's album Encore. In 2017, she portrayed Mary Debenham in Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express and reprised her role as Rey in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. She subsequently starred as the lead character in the romantic drama Ophelia (2018), voiced Cottontail in Peter Rabbit (2018), and concluded her main Star Wars film arc in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019).

In 2021, Ridley co-starred in the science-fiction film Chaos Walking and voiced a role in the video game Twelve Minutes. She expanded into producing with the independent drama Sometimes I Think About Dying (2023), in which she also starred. Her other projects during this period include the psychological thriller The Marsh King's Daughter (2023), a voice role in the stop-motion film The Inventor (2023), and hosting a miniseries for the True Spies podcast.

In 2024, Ridley played Gertrude Ederle in the biographical drama Young Woman and the Sea and starred in the noir thriller Magpie. Off-screen, Ridley resides in Primrose Hill, London, and married actor Tom Bateman in 2023. She has publicly discussed managing several health conditions, including endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome, and Graves' disease.