Daisy Ridley
Ridley began her career with minor roles in the television programmes "Youngers", "Toast of London", "Silent Witness", "Mr Selfridge", and "Casualty". She appeared in the short film "Blue Season", which was entered into the Sci-Fi-London 48-Hour Film Challenge. Ridley played the lead in film three of "Lifesaver", an interactive film which was nominated for a BAFTA Award. She also appeared in the music video for Wiley's song "Lights On", playing the character of Kim. Ridley made her film debut in the 2015 British independent horror film "Scrawl", after her scenes from the British comedy film "The Inbetweeners 2" were removed in the final cut.
In April 2014, Ridley's casting as Rey, one of the lead characters in "", was announced. She was chosen for the film in February 2014. At the time of her casting she was, according to "Rolling Stone", a "total unknown." Her choice by director J. J. Abrams was seen as a repeat of George Lucas's move of casting relatively unknown actors for the lead roles in the first "Star Wars" film in 1977. Ridley began filming her scenes in May 2014 at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, and prior to the film's release in December 2015, she appeared at the launch of a set of "Star Wars" postage stamps issued by the UK postal service Royal Mail, with her character Rey featuring on a stamp along with the droid BB-8. With international revenues of over $2 billion, "The Force Awakens" was a major box-office hit and the highest-grossing film of 2015. After an early screening of the film, Brian Viner of the "Daily Mail" called Ridley the "real star of the show", adding that her performance as Rey should "send her career into orbit." Her performance received critical acclaim, with Richard Roeper describing her portrayal as "a breakout performance" and adding "Ford has a terrific father figure chemistry [shared] with Ridley and [John] Boyega".
Aimee Kelly
At 16, she auditioned for the role of Minnie McGuinness in E4's "Skins", however the role got cast to Freya Mavor. After this audition, casting director Jane Ripley contacted Kelly about "Sket." Kelly got the part of Kayla Richards, making this her debut film. The story of the British production follows Kayla as she tries to find the man who killed her sister, and along the way, she joins a gang who helps her in her search. Kelly was nominated for Best British Newcomer at the British Film Institute for this role. In 2013, she was also nominated for 'best performer' at the British Academy Children's Awards, for her role as Maddy in the CBBC show entitled "Wolfblood." However, the award went to her fellow co-star, Bobby Lockwood, who plays Rhydian Morris in "Wolfblood." Since then, Kelly has also filmed in an episode of "Call the Midwife." Debbie Moon (the creator of "Wolfblood") stated on her blog "Never Get off The Bus" that at the end of Series 2 Kelly decided to leave "Wolfblood" to return to college. On Twitter, Kelly stated that she couldn't pursue the role of Maddy because she was busy studying: ""On the contrary of the speculations I'd like to say that finishing my year at university was the reason for not returning to WB season 3"". Later she wrote: ""It wasn't an easy decision but sometimes education comes first! Thank you so much to all of you that supported me along the way! Xx"".