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".
Shirley MacLaine
MacLaine made her film debut in Alfred Hitchcock's "The Trouble with Harry" (1955), for which she won the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress. This was quickly followed by her role in the Martin and Lewis film "Artists and Models" (also 1955). Soon afterwards, she had a role in "Around the World in 80 Days" (1956). This was followed by "Hot Spell" and a leading role in "Some Came Running" (both 1958); for the latter film, she gained her first Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe nomination. Her second Oscar nomination came two years later for "The Apartment" (1960), starring with Jack Lemmon. The film won five Oscars, including Best Director for Billy Wilder. She later said, "I thought I would win for "The Apartment", but then, Elizabeth Taylor had a tracheotomy." She starred in "The Children's Hour" (1961), also starring Audrey Hepburn and James Garner, based on the play by Lillian Hellman, and directed by William Wyler. She was again nominated, this time for "Irma la Douce" (1963), which reunited her with Wilder and Lemmon. Don Siegel, her director on "Two Mules for Sister Sara" (1970), said of her: "It's hard to feel any great warmth to her. She's too unfeminine, and has too much balls. She's very, very hard." At the peak of her success, she replaced Marilyn Monroe in "Irma la Douce" and "What a Way to Go!" (1964). Other films from this period include "Gambit" (1966), with Michael Caine, and the film version of the musical "Sweet Charity" (1968), based on the script for Fellini's "Nights of Cabiria" released a decade earlier.
MacLaine's documentary film "" (1975), co-directed with Claudia Weill, concentrates on the experiences of women in China. It was nominated for the year's Documentary Feature Oscar. In 1976 MacLaine appeared in a series of concerts at the London Palladium and New York's Palace Theatre. The latter of these was released as the acclaimed live album "Shirley MacLaine Live at the Palace". Co-starring with Anne Bancroft in "The Turning Point" (1977), MacLaine portrayed a retired ballerina much like herself; she was nominated for an Oscar as the Best Actress in a Leading Role. In 1978, she was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award for outstanding women who, through their endurance and the excellence of their work, have helped to expand the role of women within the entertainment industry. She appeared with Peter Sellers in the satire "Being There" (1979), and was cast as a photojournalist in a short-lived television sitcom, "Shirley's World" (1971–1972), co-produced by Sheldon Leonard and ITC and shot in the United Kingdom.