In the 2015 Star Wars film The Force Awakens, which actress plays the main character named Rey?
And the answer: Daisy Ridley.
Born in London in 1992, Daisy Ridley shot to stardom playing Rey, the leading role in the Star Wars movies The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker. Her character is a lone scavenger whose life changes when she agrees to help a droid on an urgent mission. She soon uncovers her full potential using the Force.
Now recognized around the world as Rey the last (?) Jedi, Daisy Ridley was an unknown face before starring in this iconic breakthrough role. The move to debut a new star as the face of the franchise was a deliberate one by J.J. Abrams – evidently the director sought to replicate the success of George Lucas' choice to cast relatively unknown actors for the lead roles in the first Star Wars film (1977).
(Warning: potential spoilers ahead...)
As the Star Wars official Wiki explains, Ridley's character is a former scavenger from the planet Jakku, and her life was changed by the tumultuous events of the last days of the New Republic Era. Rey's decision to help the droid BB-8 would set her on a course to discovering the Force within her, leading her to seek out Jedi Master Luke Skywalker for training. Yet, despite her commitment to the Jedi Order and the light side of the Force, Rey felt the pull to the dark side, stemming from her anger and the adversarial relationship she had with Ben Solo, a fallen Jedi whom she knew as the dark warrior Kylo Ren.
The Force Awakens received an enthusiastic response at the box office. Ridley's debut film role was the highest-grossing film of 2015, bringing in $936.7 million in the United States and Canada and $1.132 billion in other countries, for a worldwide total of $2.068 billion. Ridley has recently remarked that it's time for her to put the character of Rey on the shelf with the completion of the trilogy, but made sure to note:
"[...] never say never. I’m always open to a revisit. But also the beautiful thing is it’s this wonderful, huge universe with all of these stories that have yet to be told. I think there’s a lot of cool things to be made before any potential revisit."
Learn more about Ridley here.
