Daisy Ridley has been an essential part of the Star Wars experience since rappelling inside a Star Destroyer in Episode VII: The Force Awakens of the franchise. Her portrayal of scavenger Rey earned her nominations in the Saturn Awards and the Alliance of Women Film Journalists EDA Female Focus Award. In addition to the nominations, she won accolades as a breakthrough artist in such things as the Empire Awards and the Dublin Film Critics Circle Awards. The Deauville Film Festival has now been added to the organizations that consider her a major contributor to Hollywood.
As reported by Variety, Ridley has been named this year's Hollywood Rising Star at the festival. She joins such honorees as Game of Thrones actress Emilia Clarke, Knives Out's Ana de Armas, and Interstellar star Jessica Chastain.
This award comes during an impressively productive time in Ridley's career. Magpie, which was shown at the South by Southwest Film Festival, has been acquired for North American distribution by Shout! Studios. Disney+ added another of her titles, The Young Woman and the Sea, which chronicles the journey of the first woman to swim the English Channel. She has also appeared in Sometimes I Think About Dying, and Martin Campbell's Cleaner is in post-production.
Most interesting for fans of her role in the sequel trilogy is her upcoming Rey Skywalker film that was announced during Star Wars Celebration. This feature film, directed by Shameen Obaid-Chinoy, will be set fifteen years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker and is already in production.
The actress also disclosed to Women's Health that she has been diagnosed with Gaves' disease. This autoimmune disorder is characterized by overactivity of the thyroid. She first attributed "feeling poorly" to the stress of filming the emotionally-intense Magpie, but says that one doctor has described her as "tired but wired." She manages it with meditation and a "more mindful diet... decided to go gluten-free following the diagnosis."
Ridley plans on attending the Deauville Film Festival, which takes place from September 8-15, 2024.