Daisy Ridley was plucked from obscurity and cast as scavenger Rey in Star Wars: The Force
Awakens.
Claiming one of the most coveted roles in Hollywood, she instantly became the face of
the new Star Wars trilogy.
Her monumental rise has been a real-life fairytale, but it wasn't just handed to her.
Here's how she landed the role that changed her life.
"Hey, I'm fun and I'm cool, come along on this ride with me."
Dropped out
Ridley honed her skills at England's Tring Park School for the Performing Arts and graduated
with a concentration in musical theater in 2010.
After that, she enrolled in London's Birkbeck University where she studied classical civilization
— but kept going to auditions all the same.
Before long she decided that if she wanted to take acting seriously, she'd give it all
of her attention, and dropped out of school to pursue it as a career.
One of her very first jobs was on an interactive first aid film in which she demonstrates how
to administer lifesaving CPR in a high-pressure situation.
She told Reconstruction Council UK,
"This role was particularly important to me as my godfather had suffered a cardiac arrest
some time before, and his life was saved because there was someone with the knowledge to use
the right CPR techniques on him."
Smaller projects
Believe it or not, The Force Awakens was only Ridley's second feature film, the first being
a 2012 movie called Scrawl created by filmmaker Peter Hearn.
Ridley popped onto Hearn's radar through a connection from the set of a 2012 commercial
for British supermarket chain Morrisons.
Ridley regularly worked on film projects by Andover College students, and all she got
in return for her efforts was a refund on the cost of her expenses.
Hearn recalled being impressed by her strong work ethic, telling The Guardian,
"I think she just wanted to work.
I'm pretty sure she was working in a bar at the time we cast her.
She was overwhelmed with the fact people were offering her work.
Whenever she got cast in anything we all applauded."
In an effort to bulk up her reel, Ridley accepted the lead role in a short film called Blue
Season by filmmaker Georgia Higgins, created as part of the 2013 Sci-Fi London 48-hour
challenge.
Higgins told The Guardian,
"She was focused and giving and open, asking if there was anything she should change or
do.
We didn't have much time for rehearsals and she worked really well with that.
For the first part of the film, she was mostly hanging upside down."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
Moving up
Her hard work was soon rewarded with guest parts in the British medical drama Casualty
and the comedy drama Youngers.
By 2014, Ridley had impressed TV producers enough to start being considered for bigger
roles.
She popped up as an enthusiastic shopper in a season 2 episode of the popular drama Mr.
Selfridge, and she also snagged a role in a two-part Silent Witness special.
Unknown
While all of this onscreen experience was a good start for Ridley, she still thought
she was a million miles away from being able to audition for a Hollywood blockbuster.
Luckily for her, The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams wanted to cast unknown actors,
just as George Lucas did with the original Star Wars trilogy.
Abrams admitted to Elle that the casting process was scary because of the inevitable scrutiny
ahead for these new actors.
He added,
"So they needed to be actors whom the audience could discover as these characters, not as
actors they'd seen elsewhere.
Ideally, it needed to be people like Daisy — somewhat experienced, but mostly new to
the game."
Nailed it
Abrams took a liking to Ridley right away, but the audition process was still drawn out
and difficult.
Ridley told The Telegraph in 2015,
"I was just one of the lucky people who managed to get an audition and he saw something in
me.
I thought I'd ruined the first few auditions but he saw some potential, I guess, and I
was allowed to come back and read again, and then I finally got the role."
Ridley secured the part with her fourth and final reading, an emotionally charged audition
that later found its way onto the internet.
"I'm a crier.
I'm a big crier.
I cried the other day."
Gym rat
Ridley was understandably thrilled when she got confirmation that she'd be playing Rey,
but she knew that could change if she wasn't physically prepared for the role.
According to Elle, to get into shape for Star Wars, she ate a diet that consisted of "lots
of fish, legumes, and spirulina shakes" and trained for at least four hours a day, four
days a week.
In addition to intense indoor workouts that included kickboxing and wall climbing, Ridley's
trainer had her performing sprints with a parachute attached to her back in the parking
lot of Pinewood Studios.
While undeniably intense, that grueling workout schedule is a small price to pay for a major
part in one of the most beloved film franchises in Hollywood history.
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