Daisy Ridley Trivia | 45 facts about the actress

Daisy Ridley is an English actress, who rose to prominence for her role as Rey in the Star Wars trilogy.

Let’s find out more about the famous actress!

1. Although she is a skilled singer, she admitted that it’s one of her worst habits. During the production of Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015), she once lost a bet with J.J. Abrams that she couldn’t go an entire day without singing.
2. Abrams later recommended Ridley to Barbra Streisand, who was producing an album featuring well-known actors.
3. Found out that she got the part in Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015) while she was at the theatre with a friend.
4. Before the play started, she received an e-mail and a voice mail from J.J. Abrams, who asked her if she could call him.
5. When she did, he said that she’s gonna be in Star Wars; an information that made her speechless and excited. Right after the call, she went back to the theatre where the play had already started, and she had to sit through it without telling her friend what just happened.
6. Is left-handed. Could also be considered “cross-dominant” as displayed in Star Wars; she writes/eats with her left hand, but shoots and uses her staff with her right hand.
7. She has a green belt in kickboxing.
8. After she was cast in Star Wars, she only told it to her family. The first thing she did was working out to get in shape for her role. When people asked her why she was doing it, she simply told them that she was doing it for an audition.
9. In 2016, she started studying for a degree in social science.
10. Trained as a dancer and singer at the Tring Park School for the Performing Arts.
11. At the age of 15, she was diagnosed with Endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome, which required her to undergo multiple surgeries.
12. When Prince William of Wales and Prince Harry visited the set of Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi (2017) at Pinewood Studios, Daisy was assigned to escort them on a VIP tour of the Star Wars sound stage facilities.
13. While watching the trailer of Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015) for the first time, she was so amazed that she cried.
14. In July 2016, she took a visit over a weekend to the Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital in London, dressed as Rey.
15. Even after her audition for Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015), she was convinced that her acting career was over, because she didn’t get any new roles at the time. She continued to work as a bartender before she was cast in the film.
16. Prior to acting, she worked as a bartender in London.
17. She also worked in a shopping mall as an elf (later upgraded to a fairy princess) during Christmas season.
18. In 2016, she recorded the song “At the Ballet”, along with Barbra Streisand and Anne Hathaway.
19. The song is featured on the album “Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway”, which was released in August 26, 2016.
20. Won “Best Breakthrough Performance” at the MTV Movie Awards on her 24th birthday.
21. While she was doing the Star Wars films, she was praised by stunt trainers for being a natural with a lightsaber and for being a fast learner. In one instance, she had to practice a complex series of lightsaber movements for a scene in Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi (2017).
22. According to stunt coordinator Liang Yang, it would usually take three days to learn those movements. However, Ridley managed to get them right in only 90 minutes.
23. Since August 2016, she has her own wax figure featured in Madame Tussaud’s wax museum. The sculpture is based on her character Rey and has been revealed during the Star Wars Celebration Europe in July 2016.
24. Is the youngest child of five sisters. Two of them are half-sisters, coming from her father’s previous marriage.
25. Her character Rey is featured on a Star Wars postage stamp issued in October 2015 by the UK Royal Mail postal service..
26. Her great uncle is actor Arnold Ridley who played Godfrey in the long running British sitcom Dad’s Army (1968).
27. Is allergic to cats.
28. In 2012, about a year before her acting career took off, she appeared in a TV commercial for the British supermarket chain Morrisons.
29. Her likeness was used for conceptual artworks of Cara Dune, a character from The Mandalorian (2019).
30. She has a tattoo of three stars on her left foot that she got when she was 15, a tattoo of the alchemical symbol of air on her upper right thigh, and a peace symbol tattoo behind her right ear.
31. One of her very first parts was a short appearance in Toast of London (2012), where she played a stagehand.
32. Matt Berry really wanted to bring her back to the show, but he couldn’t get in touch with her. This was because at the time, she has been recently cast in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) and therefore was temporarily unavailable. Berry expressed his delight in her casting, and admitted that his show really couldn’t compete with Star Wars.
33. She was cast in Youngers (2013) straight out of school. Coincidentally, during the only scene in which she appears, Star Wars is mentioned.
34. She appears in the music video for the song “Lights On” by Wiley (feat Angel & Tinchy Stryder). The song was released in 2013.
35. She and her two older sisters are named after flowers (Poppy-Sophia and Kika-Rose).
36. She became a vegan after watching the mocumentary Carnage: Swallowing the Past (2017). The film horrified her so much that it inspired her to educate herself about the meat and dairy industry. After cutting both, she eventually settled on eating fish as a compromise.
37. One of her favourite films from her childhood is Matilda (1996).
38. She is a fan of The Great British Bake Off (2010) and an avid baker herself. She later appeared as a contestant in the fourth season of The Great Celebrity Bake Off for SU2C (2018).
39. She is an avid reader and a passionate fan of theatre.
40. Her mother’s family, Fawkner-Corbett, were landed gentry. Her maternal great-grandfather William Victor Fawkner-Corbett was born under the name Corbett, and added Fawkner- to his surname from his mother’s name.
41. On Good Morning America, she revealed that she would love to do a musical.
42. She had a part in The Inbetweeners 2 (2014), but her scenes were later cut from the film. The director later attempted to get her back on the film, but as she had been recently cast in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), contractual obligations prevented this.
43. She has Irish ancestry. Her father is Irish, and her great-grandparents hail from Ennis, Ireland. She is also 1/32 German.
44. Had her film debut in the horror film Scrawl (2015).
45. She was cast after her co-star Elizabeth Boag recommended her to director Peter Hearn, who then wrote the character Hannah specifically for Ridley.