Daisy Ridley says ‘no one wanted to employ her’ after Star Wars
Rey actor has found work in video games and in voice roles since end of franchise
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Daisy Ridley struggled to find work in the wake of Star Wars, the British actor has revealed.
Ridley shot to fame playing Rey in the rebooted Star Wars trilogy, which came to an end with December 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker, but she found herself fruitlessly auditioning for parts in early 2020 and receiving few acting offers.
“Weirdly, at the beginning of the year nothing was coming through,” Ridley told Entertainment Weekly.
“I was like, ‘Aww! No one wants to employ me’… There were actually loads of things that I auditioned for at the beginning of the year and didn’t get any of them.”
She continued: “I had that moment of, ‘Oh my god!’ and then just thought, ‘Everything in its right time’.”
Ridley went on to say that struggling for work, and then entering lockdown, allowed her to finally “process” leaving Star Wars behind. “To be forced to slow down, it was good mentally for me because [Star Wars was] a big thing in my life," she said.
Ridley has most recently lent her voice to a video game titled Twelve Minutes, and was announced as a voice in a virtual reality film based on the Baba Yaga myth. Kate Winslet and Jennifer Hudson are also among the voice cast.
Away from Star Wars, Ridley has appeared in 2017’s Murder on the Orient Express and voiced a rabbit in 2018’s Peter Rabbit.
She also stars alongside Tom Holland in the delayed dystopian epic Chaos Walking, which completed filming in 2017 but was forced to wait years in order to complete reshoots due to the franchise schedules of Ridley and Holland. It is not scheduled for release until January 2021.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments