In April 2014, Ridley's
casting as Rey, one of the
lead characters in Star Wars:
The Force Awakens, was
announced. She was chosen
for the film in February 2014.
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,
as well as the first of the Star
Wars prequel trilogy in 1999.
At the time of her casting
she was, according to Rolling
Stone, a "total unknown."
Prior to the film's release, in
JOY FEELINGS MAG!
October 2015 Ridley
appeared at the launch of a
set of Star Wars postage
stamps issued by the UK
postal service Royal Mail,
with Ridley's character Rey
featuring on a stamp along
with the droidBB-8. With
international revenues of over
$2 billion, The Force
Awakens was a major boxoffice hit and the highestgrossing 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