Daisy Jazz Isobel Ridley, born on April 10, 1992, is an English actress. She became famous for playing Rey in the Star Wars sequel trilogy: The Force Awakens (2015), The Last Jedi (2017), and The Rise of Skywalker (2019).
She also starred in Murder on the Orient Express (2017), played the main role in the romantic drama Ophelia (2018), and did voice work in the movie Peter Rabbit (2018) and the video game Twelve Minutes (2021).
Ridley continued her career with lead roles in the sci-fi film Chaos Walking (2021), the indie drama Sometimes I Think About Dying (2023), and the thriller The Marsh King’s Daughter (2023). She played Gertrude Ederle in the biographical drama Young Woman and the Sea (2024).
Ridley was born in Westminster, London, and grew up in Maida Vale. She is the youngest of three daughters. Her father, Christopher Ridley, is a photographer, and her mother, Louise Fawkner-Corbett, works in internal communications for a bank. She has two older sisters, Kika Rose and Poppy Sophia, and two older half-sisters. Her family has a background in the military and medicine. Her great-uncle, Arnold Ridley, was a playwright and actor known for Dad’s Army.
Growing up, Ridley’s favorite movie was Matilda (1996). She was more interested in Harry Potter than Star Wars as a child. She attended Tring Park School for the Performing Arts from ages nine to eighteen and then studied classical civilization at Birkbeck, University of London, before leaving to focus on acting. Before her Star Wars role, she worked as a bartender in London.
Ridley began with small roles in TV shows like Youngers, Toast of London, Silent Witness, Mr Selfridge, and Casualty. She appeared in the short film Blue Season and the interactive film Lifesaver, which was nominated for a BAFTA Award. She also featured in Wiley’s music video “Lights On” and made her film debut in the horror movie Scrawl (2015).
In 2014, Ridley was cast as Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This role brought her major recognition, and the movie became a huge box office success, earning over $2 billion worldwide. Critics praised her performance, calling it a breakout role.
Ridley produced and narrated the documentary The Eagle Huntress in 2016. She appeared on Barbra Streisand’s album Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway, performing a song from A Chorus Line.
In 2017, she played Mary Debenham in Murder on the Orient Express and reprised her role as Rey in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. She starred in Ophelia (2018) and voiced Cottontail in Peter Rabbit (2018). Ridley returned as Rey in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), expressing interest in possibly returning to the role in the future.
In 2021, she starred in Chaos Walking with Tom Holland, voiced a character in the game Twelve Minutes, and appeared in Judd Apatow’s film The Bubble. She hosted a True Spies podcast miniseries about Lee Harvey Oswald in 2023.
Ridley starred in The Marsh King’s Daughter and voiced a character in the French animated film The Inventor (2023). She also produced and starred in the indie film Sometimes I Think About Dying and played Gertrude Ederle in Young Woman and the Sea (2024).
Ridley will star in the sci-fi mystery film Mind Fall and the noir thriller Magpie, based on a story she co-created. She will reprise her role as Rey in a new Star Wars film directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.
Ridley lives in Primrose Hill, London. She has been in a relationship with actor Tom Bateman since 2017, and they married in 2023. She has spoken about her struggles with endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome, which affected her self-confidence.
Ridley deleted her social media accounts in 2016 after facing backlash for an anti-gun violence post. She returned briefly in 2017 and 2022, emphasizing the negative impact of social media on mental health. In 2022, she rejoined Instagram, calling it her “Year of Yes”.