History Creator / DaisyRidley

She played small roles in short films and TV series until [[StarMakingRole she became a star practically overnight]] as [[Characters/StarWarsRey Rey]], an orphan [[TheForce Force]]-sensitive [[DisasterScavengers scavenger]] and the central protagonist of the ''Franchise/StarWars'' {{sequel}} trilogy, which debuted with ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' in December 2015.

** The Wife in ''Twelve Minutes'' appears to be a normal woman who adores her husband and is excited to be expecting a child with him. However, she's then accused of murdering her father [[spoiler:and despite her initial denials, it turns out she ''did'' seemingly kill him, though unbeknownst to her she only wounded him and someone else finished the job; it was also more of an AccidentalMurder]]. Like with Mary Debenham, the incident was prompted by a personal grievance; [[spoiler:the Wife's father cheated on her mother, causing her to fall into a deep depression and die prematurely, her confronting him about this got out of hand]].

* ''Film/TheInbetweeners2'' (2014, DeletedRole)

** ''VideoGame/{{Star Wars Battlefront II|2017}} (2017)

* ''Film/{{Ophelia}}'' (2018) as [[{{Theatre/Hamlet}} Ophelia]]

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: It was reported that she was considered for the role of Lara Croft in the 2018 ''Tomb Raider'' reboot, with Alicia Vikander eventually winning the role (although Ridley herself stated she was never directly approached about it). Funnily enough, Vikander was the original casting choice for the lead role in the film adaptation of ''The Marsh King's Daughter'', but dropped out and was replaced by Ridley.

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** ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsForcesOfDestiny Forces of Destiny]]'' (web animation series, 2017-onwards)

* ''Film/{{Ophelia}}'' (2018)[[note]]It premiered in 2018, but didn't receive a wider release until 2019[[/note]] as [[{{Theatre/Hamlet}} Ophelia]]

* StarMakingRole: Her career has skyrocketed the very day ''The Force Awakens'' came out; she was considered for the title role in the ''Franchise/TombRaider'' [[Film/TombRaider2018 reboot]] (losing out to Creator/AliciaVikander), has given her voice to the English dub of ''Only Yesterday'', and also became an executive producer to the movie ''The Eagle Huntress''. She was also quickly cast in the lead roles of two YA film adaptations (''Ophelia'' and ''Chaos Walking'') and was cast in a major role in a new adaptation of ''Murder on the Orient Express'', all within a few years of ''The Force Awakens'''s release.

* ''VideoGame/TwelveMinutes'' (2021) as The Wife

* FakeAmerican: She played an American as Roxy in ''Mr Selfridge'', complete with accent.

''VideoGame/TwelveMinutes'' (2021) as The Wife

* CreatorBreakdown: A mild example, combined with CreatorBacklash, followed after ''Ophelia'''s premiere. Ridley [[https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a28311243/star-wars-daisy-ridley-ophelia-role-fears/ admitted]] she was initially upset by the film's lukewarm reception and didn't much care for the cut of the film shown at the Sundance Film Festival, especially as it was her first leading role after ''Star Wars'' ("In ''Star Wars'', Rey has an important story but it's not like it's Rey's film. This is like 'I'm playing Ophelia in ''Ophelia'''."). However, she had a much more positive reaction to the film's final cut.

* CreatorBreakdown: A mild example, combined with CreatorBacklash, followed after ''Ophelia'''s premiere. Ridley [[https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a28311243/star-wars-daisy-ridley-ophelia-role-fears/ admitted]] she was initially upset by the film's lukewarm reception and didn't much care for the cut of the film shown at the Sundance Film Festival, especially as it was her first leading role after ''Star Wars'' ("In ''Star Wars'', Rey has an important story but it's not like it's Rey's film. This is like 'I'm playing Ophelia in ''Ophelia''."). However, she had a much more positive reaction to the film's final cut.

* CreatorBreakdown: A mild example, combined with CreatorBacklash, followed after ''Ophelia'''s premiere. Ridley [[https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a28311243/star-wars-daisy-ridley-ophelia-role-fears/ admitted]] she was initially upset by the film's lukewarm reception and didn't much care for the cut of the film shown at the Sundance Film Festival, especially as it was her first leading role after ''Star Wars'' ("In ''Star Wars'', Rey has an important story but it's not like it's Rey's film. This is like 'I'm playing Ophelia in ''Ophelia''). However, she had a much more positive reaction to the film's final cut.

* ''Film/{{Ophelia}}'' (2019)[[note]]It premiered in 2018, but didn't receive a wider release until 2019[[/note]] as [[{{Theatre/Hamlet}} Ophelia]]

** She was 22 years old when she first played Rey, who according to supplementary material is 19 years old in ''The Force Awakens'',  largely averting Dawson Casting. It's more significant in ''The Last Jedi''; it's an ImmediateSequel so Rey is still 19, while during filming Ridley was 23/24, four-to-five years older. ''The Rise of Skywalker'' is set a year later, making Rey 20 years old now, while Ridley was 26 when filming began.

* ''Scrawl'' (2015) as Hannah

* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: In most of her roles, including her most famous role as Rey, she has her natural brunette hair, though she also played a redhead as the titular character in ''Film/{{Ophelia}}'' (wearing a wig) and she's a blonde as Viola in ''Film/{{Chaos Walking|2021}}''.

She played small roles in short films and TV series until [[StarMakingRole she became a star practically overnight]] as Rey, an orphan [[TheForce Force]]-sensitive [[DisasterScavengers scavenger]] and the central protagonist of the ''Franchise/StarWars'' {{sequel}} trilogy, which debuted with ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' in December 2015.