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".
Dorothy Bromiley
The Girls of Pleasure Island, 1953 promotion photo. Left to right: Don Taylor, Audrey Dalton, Gene Barry, Joan Elan, Peter Baldwin, Dorothy Bromiley]]
Bromiley successfully auditioned for a role of Gloria in the Hollywood film "The Girls of Pleasure Island" (Paramount, 1952). Her major roles in several British films include sixth former Paulette at Angel Hill Grammar School (aged 26 at the time) in "It's Great to Be Young" (1956) in which Bromiley's singing voice for the Paddy Roberts/Lester Powell Ray Martin song "You are My First Love" was dubbed by Edna Savage (and by Ruby Murray in the pre-credits sequence), Rose in "A Touch Of The Sun" (1956) co-starring with Frankie Howerd, Sarah in "Zoo Baby" (1957) with Angela Baddeley, "Small Hotel" (1957), Angela in "The Criminal" (1960) and a minor role in "The Servant" (1963), the latter two directed by Losey.Bromiley made her television drama debut as Pauline Kirby in "The Lady Asks For Help" (1956) an episode of "Television Playhouse" produced by Towers of London for ITV. This was followed by the role of Ann Fleming in "Heaven and Earth" (1957) part of the "Douglas Fairbanks Presents" series for ATV. Directed by Peter Brook, it also starred Paul Scofield and Richard Johnson, and was set on board a plane that develops engine trouble. Bromiley also had roles in such popular television series as "The Adventures of Robin Hood" (1956) as Lady Rowena ("Hubert" episode), "Armchair Theatre" (1957), "Play of the Week" ("Arsenic and Old Lace") (1958), "Saturday Playhouse" ("The Shop at Sly Corner") (1960), "Z-Cars" (1964), "The Power Game" (1966) and "No Hiding Place" (1965, 1966), and the television play "Jemima and Johnny" (1966). Her last television drama role was as Sarah Malory in "Fathers and Families" (BBC Television, 1977) directed by Christopher Morahan.