Daisy Ridley Biography
Daisy Ridley is an English actress best known for starring as Rey in the Star Wars sequel trilogy films, The Force Awakens in 2015, The Last Jedi in 2017, and The Rise of Skywalker in 2019.
Ridley has also starred in Murder on the Orient Express, Ophelia, and did voice roles in Peter Rabbit in 2018 and the video game Twelve Minutes in 2021. Moreover, she has had leading roles in Chaos Walking, Sometimes I Think About Dying, The Marsh King’s Daughter, and Young Woman and the Sea.
Daisy Ridley Age
Ridley was born Daisy Jazz Isobel Ridley on April 10, 1992, in London, England. She is 32 years old as of 2024. Ridley celebrates her birthday on April 10th.
Daisy Ridley Height
Ridley stands at an approximate height of 5 feet and 7 inches.
Daisy Ridley Family
Ridley was born to Christopher Ridley and Louise (née Fawkner-Corbett) in the London borough of Westminster. They raised her in Maida Vale alongside her two elder sisters, Kika Rose and Poppy Sophia. Moreover, she has two other older half-sisters from her father’s previous relationship. Her father worked as a photographer while her mother in internal communications for a bank.
On her maternal side, the Fawkner-Corbetts were landed gentry with a history of military and medical ties. Her paternal great-uncle, Arnold Ridley, served in the military. Separately, he created a career as an actor and playwright. He is best known for starring as Private Godfrey in Dad’s Army. John Harry Dunn Ridley, OBE, Arnold’s brother, worked as head of the Engineering Secretariat at the BBC from 1950 to 1965.
Ridley said that she enjoyed watching Matilda while growing up, seeing the actress portraying Matilda(Mara Wilson) as a role model. Even though she was not a Star Wars fan as a youth, she closely followed the Harry Potter series.
Daisy Ridley Husband
Ridley is married to Tom Bateman. She shared news of their marriage during the Sundance Film Festival in January 2023. They have been in a relationship with Tom Bateman since 2017. They met on the set of Murder on the Orient Express. She lives in Primrose Hill, London.
Daisy Ridley Net Worth
Ridley has an estimated net worth of between $10 Million-$15 Million which she has earned through her successful career as an actress.
Daisy Ridley Education
Ridley attended Tring Park School for the Performing Arts in Hertfordshire on a scholarship that she won. She studied there from ages nine to eighteen. Next, she joined Birkbeck, University of London where she studied Classical Civilization. However, she dropped out in favor of pursuing her acting career. In 2016, she returned to school, studying through online courses with the Open University for a Bachelor of Arts in Social Science.
Daisy Ridley Star Wars Trilogy
Ridley rose to prominence for starring as Rey in the Star Wars sequel trilogy films, The Force Awakens in 2015, The Last Jedi in 2017, and The Rise of Skywalker in 2019. An announcement at the Star Wars Celebration revealed that Ridley would recur her role as Rey in an upcoming untitled Star Wars.
The Force Awakens
Before securing a spot in the cast of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, she worked as a bartender at two different pubs in London for almost two years. In February 2014, she secured the role of Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. In May 2014, she began filming at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire. Before the film’s release, she made an appearance at the debut of a set of Star Wars postage stamps printed by the UK postal service Royal Mail, with Rey featuring on a stamp with the droid BB-8.
Ridley discovered that she was selected to join the show’s cast while at the theatre with a friend. She received a voicemail from J.J. Abrams asking her if she could call him. When she did, he informed her that she would join the show’s cast.
During the production of the show, she lost a bet to J.J. Abrams that she couldn’t go an entire day without singing. He later recommended her to Barbra Streisand who was producing an album with famous actors.
She has an alto singing voice.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens follows Rey alongside Finn, Poe Dameron, and Han Solo as they look for Luke Skywalker and their fight in the Resistance. Rey is a Force-sensitive scavenger from the desert planet Jakku who was abandoned there as a child. She serves on the planet by scavenging machine parts. She rescues the droid BB-8 who has vital information for the Resistance, ushering her into a bigger conflict against the First Order.
Awards
Ridley’s performance in the film earned her a 2015 Florida Film Critics Circle FCC Breakout Award Award, a 2016 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Favorite Movie Actress Award, a 2016 MTV MovieBest Breakthrough Performance Award, and a 2016 Teen Choice Choice Movie: Breakout Star Award. Additionally, she won nominations for several awards from several organizations including the Central Ohio Film Critics Association, Georgia Film Critics Association, EDA Awards, Empire Awards, Saturn Awards, and MTV Movie Awards.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Ridley recurred her role as Rey in Star Wars: The Last Jedi in 2017. The film follows Rey as she pursues the help of Luke Skywalker on the remote planet Ahch-To, wishing to turn the tides for the Resistance in the fight against Kylo Ren and the First Order. She also struggles with her identity and links to the Force.
In 2018, Ridley’s performance in the film earned her nominations for a Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Favorite Movie Actress Award, MTV Movie Award for Best Performance in a Movie and Best Hero, and Saturn Award for Best Actress. She also won a 2018 Empire Best Actress Award.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
In 2019, Ridley recurred the role of Rey in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. In the film, Rey alongside Finn, Poe Dameron, and the remnants of the Resistance takes a final stand against Supreme Leader Kylo Ren and the First Order, who are allies of the resurrected Sith Lord, Emperor Palpatine.
Daisy Ridley Ethinicity
Ridley has Irish roots as her father is Irish, and her great-grandparents come from Ennis, Ireland. She is also 1/32 German.
Daisy Ridley Sick/Illness
In 2016, Ridley disclosed that she was diagnosed with endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome when she was 15 years old. As a result, she underwent several laparoscopic surgery procedures. She commented that her condition lowered her self-confidence because of the acne that followed. In 2023, she was diagnosed with Graves’ disease with symptoms like weight loss, fatigue, and a racing heart rate among other symptoms.
Daisy Ridley Career
Ridley launched her acting career with small roles in Youngers, Toast of London, Silent Witness, Mr Selfridge, and Casualty. She also starred in Blue Season and secured the lead role in Lifesaver. Moreover, she made an appearance as Kim in the music video of Wiley’s Lights On. In 2015, she debuted on film with a role in Scrawl after her scenes from The Inbetweeners 2 were removed in the final cut.
Before securing a spot in the cast of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, she worked as a bartender at two different pubs in London for almost two years. In February 2014, she secured the role of Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. In May 2014, she began filming at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire. Before the film’s release, she made an appearance at the debut of a set of Star Wars postage stamps printed by the UK postal service Royal Mail, with Rey featuring on a stamp with the droid BB-8.
In January 2016, Ridley started working as the executive producer of The Eagle Huntress and recorded narration for the film’s wide marketing. She was one of the few actors on Barbra Streisand’s 2016 album, Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway. She performs the song, At the Ballet, from A Chorus Line alongside Anne Hathaway and Barbra. Ridley also stars as Bebe, a dancer wanting to be in an expected show.
Ridley starred as d Mary Debenham in Murder on the Orient Express in 2017. That same year, she recurred the role of Rey in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, opposite Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker. The following year, she played the role of Ophelia opposite Naomi Watts and Clive Owen in Ophelia.
2018 to present;
Ridley provided the voiceover for Cottontail in Peter Rabbit in February 2018. In December of the following year, she starred as Rey in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Initially, she didn’t want to recur her role since she felt nothing could beat The Rise of Skywalker for her character. However, she said that she is open to playing the character if needed.
In 2021, Ridle starred opposite Tom Holland as Viola Eade in Chaos Walking. She provided a voice-over to the point-and-click mystery video game Twelve Minutes, with James McAvoy and Willem Dafoe. In 2022, she appeared in Judd Apatow’s The Bubble starring as the horny AI, Kate. The following year, she began hosting True Spies, a podcast miniseries about Lee Harvey Oswald.
On June 7, 2021, Ridley began filming the lead role in The Marsh King’s Daughter in Ontario, Canada. Additionally, she did a voiceover in The Inventor. Between 2021 and 2022, she shot Sometimes I Think About Dying in Astoria, Oregon, making it her first main producing task. She appeared in Walt Disney Pictures’ Young Woman and the Sea starring as Gertrude Ederle.
Ridley also appeared in Mind Fall and Magpie. On April 7, 2023, she was announced to recur her role as Rey in an upcoming untitled Star Wars at Star Wars Celebration. She is scheduled to star in We Bury the Dead as Ava Newman and Cleaner as Joey Locke.
Daisy Ridley Movies and TV Shows
Ridley has starred in several movies and TV shows during her career such as
- 100% BEEF
- Crossed Wires
- Casualty
- The Quiet Ones
- Silent Witness
- Only Yesterday
- Mr. Selfridge
- Asteroid Hunters
- The Christie Affair
Daisy Ridley Social Media Platforms
After the 2016 Teen Choice Awards paid homage to victims of gun violence, she posted an anti-gun violence message on her Instagram and Facebook accounts. As a result, she received backlash, with some calling her a hypocrite and pointing out the violence shown in her Star Wars films. Subsequently, she deleted her social media accounts and shortly returned to Instagram commenting that she deleted her account since she had a busy schedule ahead and wanted fewer distractions.
In 2017, she restated that social media was very unhealthy for mental health including hers. She also vowed to not return to social media during an interview in 2019. She not only expressed that freedom of expression is valuable via the platforms, but she also believed that people’s opinions carry significant weight, stating that it’s dangerous but also communicates when people are in serious and dire situations.
On April 4, 2022, she rejoined Instagram after six years away from the platform. She is active on her social media account and often posts on her Instagram where she has over 450K followers.