Maisie Williams

1.1. Birth and Family

Margaret Constance Williams was born in Bristol, England, on April 15, 1997. Her parents are Gary Williams and Hilary Frances (née Pitt), a former university course administrator who later dedicated herself to supporting her daughter's acting career. Williams' parents divorced when she was four months old. The youngest of four siblings, James, Beth, and Ted, Williams was raised by her mother and stepfather in a three-bedroom council house in the village of Clutton, Somerset. From an early age, she was known by the nickname "Maisie," a diminutive of Margaret frequently used in Scotland, given to her due to her perceived resemblance to the cartoon character from the UK newspaper comic strip The Perishers.

1.2. Education

Williams attended Clutton Primary School and Norton Hill School in Midsomer Norton. She later transferred to Bath Dance College to study performing arts, where she received extensive training in musical theatre, ballet, pointe, tap, street, freestyle, gymnastics, and trampolining, with the initial ambition of becoming a professional dancer. At the age of 14, she left school partly due to the successful start of her acting career, continuing her education through home schooling, but she did not take any GCSEs.

2.1. Debut and Game of Thrones

At the age of 12, Williams began her professional acting career by joining one of television's largest ensemble casts. She was cast as Arya Stark, the feisty young daughter of a noble family in HBO's historical fantasy drama series Game of Thrones, which is based on George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire epic fantasy novel series. Williams almost missed her audition for the role-only her second audition ever-because it coincided with a school trip to a farm, but her mother convinced her to attend. As the series' viewership rose, the international popularity of Game of Thrones brought Williams global recognition.

The character of Arya Stark is widely regarded as an anti heroine and a fan favorite, evolving into one of the central protagonists in the Game of Thrones fantasy epic. Arya's story arc across the first six seasons encompasses themes of severance, trauma, tragedy, and revenge. The physically demanding role required a young actor who could convincingly portray a deadly assassin. Williams, who is naturally right-handed, maintained character by performing left-handed in the show and executed the majority of her own stunts and fight scenes. She was reportedly told a year before the filming of "The Long Night" episode to build up her stamina for the extensive battle sequences. Her performance in that episode was nominated for the 2020 BAFTA TV Awards under the "Must-see moment" category. Williams appeared in all eight broadcast seasons of Game of Thrones, with the final episode airing in May 2019.

Williams has expressed that while she looks back at her role as Arya with pride and affection, she does not miss that period of her personal life. Arya was not only younger than Williams, but the role required her to appear boyish with short hair and makeup, along with a chest strap that made Williams feel ashamed during her mid-teen years as her feminine body developed. The character's appearance did not align with her evolving reality, nor did Arya resemble what Williams considered attractive, leading to a period where she resented her own body for not matching that of her character's.

2.2. Major film appearances

Williams has taken on significant roles in various feature films, showcasing her versatility across genres.

In 2012, Williams portrayed Scraggly Sue in The Olympic Ticket Scalper, a Funny or Die skit. She also appeared in the independent film Heatstroke (2013) as Jo O'Malley, and the short film Up on the Roof (2013) as Trish, also serving as an executive producer for the latter.

In 2014, Williams played the lead role of Lydia Lamont in the British melodramatic coming-of-age mystery drama The Falling, set in an all-girls school. For this role, she received critical acclaim and several accolades, including the London Film Critics' Circle Award for Young Performer of the Year, the Evening Standard British Film Award Rising Star, and the European Shooting Stars Award at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival. The film premiered at the BFI London Film Festival on October 11, 2014, and was released theatrically in the UK on April 24, 2015. Guy Lodge of Variety described Williams as "prodigiously gifted" and delivering a "brilliantly articulated... bristling, often spikily funny performance." Also in 2014, she played Abbie in the Irish comedy-drama film Gold. In 2016, she appeared as Millie Pearlman in The Book of Love.

In 2017, Williams starred as Lucy in the Netflix science fiction teen superhero thriller film iBoy, alongside Bill Milner. Tristram Fane Saunders of The Daily Telegraph praised her performance, stating that she brought "depth, humour and honesty to the role." Also in 2017, Williams appeared as Isabel Baxter in Mary Shelley, a romantic period-drama film directed by Haifaa al-Mansour.

In 2018, Williams voiced the character Goona, a fearless rebel tomboy and football enthusiast from the Bronze Age, in Nick Park's animated prehistoric comedy sports film Early Man, which also featured Eddie Redmayne and Tom Hiddleston. Reviewers noted that Williams' accent varied during the film. From 2013, she also filmed the eleven-minute short film Corvidae, a dark fairy tale released in 2018, where she played Jay. Craig Holton of flickfeast commented that Williams brought "an undeniably ethereal quality to this short film, helping it make the leap from grounded realism to eldritch bucolic fantasy." In 2019, Williams starred alongside Asa Butterfield and Nina Dobrev in the coming-of-age romantic comedy-drama film Then Came You, portraying Skye Aitken, a teenager with a terminal illness. Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter felt that Williams made her "sprightly character appealingly vulnerable." The film premiered at the Woodstock Film Festival on October 12, 2018, and was released nationwide in 2019.

In late August 2020, Williams co-starred in the delayed Disney/Fox superhero horror film The New Mutants, originally set for release in April 2018. She portrayed the Marvel superhero Rahne Sinclair / Wolfsbane, a Scottish mutant who can transform into a wolf but struggles to reconcile this with her religious beliefs. The New York Times described her portrayal as "with endearing sincerity." Although the film received mixed to negative reviews, her performance was praised by The Hollywood Reporter for adding "layers of panache and emotion" to her character. The film was released in theaters that were partly open with reduced capacity due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Written and directed by Josh Boone, the film also starred Anya Taylor-Joy, Blu Hunt, Charlie Heaton, Alice Braga, and Henry Zaga. The Los Angeles Times described the same-sex romantic relationship between Williams' Rahne and Hunt's Danielle Moonstar as feeling honest and a central part of the story that grounded the film with "a sense of humanity," making The New Mutants both a rare LGBTQ-inclusive superhero film and groundbreaking for a Disney release.

Also in September 2020, Williams starred in the 1990s-set psychological thriller The Owners, playing Mary, a young woman who reluctantly participates in a botched robbery with her boyfriend and two other low-level criminals (Ian Kenny, Jake Curran, and Andrew Ellis) at an old couple's home (Sylvester McCoy and Rita Tushingham). The Hollywood Reporter noted that Williams "used her innate appeal to make her character sympathetic." Dread Central felt that she gave a better performance than in The New Mutants, commenting, "it's undeniably cool to see the young, now forever iconic actress kick ass in a real world setting." The film was released by RLJE Films in select theaters and digitally on demand on September 4. Directed by French director Julius Berg, it was adapted from the graphic novel Une Nuit De Pleine Lune by Belgian artist Hermann and writer Yves H. Her veteran co-actor Sylvester McCoy predicted Williams' success beyond acting, stating, "she's full of energy - a little bubbly ball of fire and creativity... she's grown up in the business and she knows it inside out... She's a rising star as an actress, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if she became a director and a producer... She's got all those abilities and that intelligence and the knowledge of the business from years of doing it... from a young age."

In 2024, Williams is set to appear as Sylvia in The Luckiest Man in America. She has also been cast in Sinner V. Saints, an adaptation of Anthony Delano's "Joyce McKinney and the Case of the Manacled Mormon," an 'over the top' true story about an eccentric American woman accused of abducting and raping a Mormon missionary in England in the 1970s. Additionally, she will star as Kait in 500 Miles. In November 2024, George R. R. Martin hinted at a new project with her.

2.3. Major television appearances

Williams has made notable appearances in several television series, showcasing her range across different formats and genres.

In 2012, Williams portrayed Loren Caleigh in the three-part BBC supernatural thriller series The Secret of Crickley Hall. In 2014, she lent her voice to various characters, including Black Cherry Pie, Shlorpette, Didi Pickles, Margaux Kramer, and Bee Cosplayer, in two episodes of the animated comedy series Robot Chicken.

In January 2015, Williams, who has been a victim of cyberbullying herself, starred as Casey Jacobs in the one-hour-long BAFTA-nominated Cyberbully, a Channel 4 docudrama television film. Writing for The Guardian, Filipa Jodelka described Williams' central, almost solo, performance as a "tour-de-force." In 2015, Williams guest-starred in four episodes of series 9 of the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who ("The Girl Who Died", "The Woman Who Lived", "Face the Raven", and "Hell Bent"), in the recurring role of Ashildr, a Viking girl made immortal by the Doctor. Williams' performance in "The Woman Who Lived" was described as "superb" by Patrick Mulkern of the Radio Times.

Released in September 2020, Williams was the lead in Two Weeks to Live, a six-part dark, deadpan comedy revenge drama. Williams plays Kim Noakes, who, following the murder of her father, has been raised in total isolation, living off the grid in the wilderness by her overprotective doomsday-prepping survivalist mother, Tina (played by Sian Clifford). The plot is set in motion after a seemingly harmless prank makes Kim believe that everyone in the world has just two weeks to live, prompting her to seek revenge on the man who murdered her father when she was a child. The Guardian noted that Williams "excels in her fish-out-of-water role, flitting between hapless and determined, worldly and childlike." Two Weeks To Live allowed Williams to showcase her comedic timing while also demonstrating her stunt fighting and general stunt skills. NME described the action drama as genuinely funny. The UK series, written by Gaby Hull and produced by Kudos for Sky UK, debuted on September 2, 2020, and premiered in the U.S. on HBO Max on November 5. The six-part series also starred Sean Knopp, Mawaan Rizwan, and Taheen Modak.

In the six-episode biopic limited series Pistol for FX, which chronicles the story of the Sex Pistols, Williams portrays the real-life punk rock icon Jordan (Pamela Rooke). The series is based on guitarist Steve Jones' 2018 memoir Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol and was executively produced and directed by Danny Boyle. Jordan was an archetypal subversive model whose distinctive Vivienne Westwood-designed outfits and outrageous makeup made her the original face of punk, and she is co-credited with creating the punk fashion style. Critics noted that Williams, while sometimes underutilized, brought her "formidable screen presence" as the "untouchably cool" Jordan, complete with a vertical sheet of peroxide blonde hair. Rooke herself acted as an advisor on the show, informing Williams that in portraying her, she would be playing a very strong female, "a woman set apart, really. I decided that I wanted to be me... a walking work of art... I was totally and utterly unshakable." Williams "sparkles" in the second episode's cold opening, where she recreates Jordan cycling through her seaside hometown and then commuting by train wearing a fully revealing transparent PVC top, to the consternation and heckling of those around her. This scene straightforwardly presents the punk movement's effect on society, and both The Guardian and Vogue judged it to be one of the strongest in the series. Williams continued to embrace the punk-rock style for her Pistol press tour, drawing inspiration from how Jordan used her clothing and physicality as a defiant presence and a political statement to take control of the situation and subvert the male gaze.

In May 2022, it was announced that Williams had been cast in the Apple drama series The New Look. Set against the backdrop of World War II-occupied Paris, she portrays Catherine Dior, a Legion of Honour recipient for her actions in the French Resistance and the younger sister of fashion designer Christian Dior, whose style was at the time eclipsing that of Coco Chanel. The series was released in February 2024, and a second season has been ordered.

2.4. Stage and voice acting

In addition to her film and television work, Williams has explored stage acting and voice roles.

From October 18 to November 24, 2018, Williams starred as Caroline in the stage play I and You, written by Lauren Gunderson. The play premiered at the Hampstead Theatre in London. The production performed well at the box office, and Williams' stage performance was critically acclaimed, leading to the production being broadcast free on Instagram from November 30 to December 3, 2018, and again during the last week of March 2020.

From 2019 to 2021, Williams voiced Cammie MacCloud, a mischievous Scottish hacker, in the U.S. animated web series Gen:Lock, which is set in a dystopian future and broadcast on the Rooster Teeth subscription service. On November 4, 2021, the second season of nine episodes premiered on HBO Max before its release on Rooster Teeth three months later. In 2022, she reprised her role as Arya Stark, providing the voice for the character in the video game MultiVersus.

Williams has also appeared in several music videos:

• "Oceans" by Seafret (2015), where she played a superhero.
• "Sing" by Pentatonix (2015), appearing as herself.
• "Rest Your Love" by The Vamps (2015), portraying Layla.
• "Galaxies" by Alice Phoebe Lou (2019), appearing as herself.
• "You Mean the World to Me" by Freya Ridings (2019), playing the daughter, directed by her Game of Thrones co-star Lena Headey.
• "Miracle" by Madeon (2020), from the album Good Faith, also directed by Lena Headey.
• "Judas on the Dancefloor" by The Zangwills (2021), where she served as producer, with the video directed by BAFTA-winning Lowri Roberts.
• "She's on My Mind" by Romy (2023).

3.1. Production companies and digital platforms

Williams has actively pursued ventures in film production and digital platforms. In early 2016, she established Daisy Chain Productions with Dom Santry and Bill Milner, both of whom she met while working on iBoy. The company aims to develop and produce UK-originated short films, theatrical features, and high-end television dramas, with a particular focus on creating opportunities for youth and fostering talent within the UK. In 2017, the short film Stealing Silver, which Williams executive produced and starred in alongside Ronald Pickup, marked the company's first production.

Williams and Lowri Roberts, through their production company Rapt, collaborated with independent studio Delaval Film as executive producers on a 15-minute British/Czech co-produced stop motion animation short titled Salvation Has No Name. Filming for this project began in 2020 at Aardman Studios, and it is slated for festival screenings in 2022. Salvation Has No Name is described as a cinematic folktale that explores issues of xenophobia and faith surrounding the refugee crisis through a surreal performance by a troupe of circus clowns.

Williams also co-developed and launched the beta version of a new iOS-compatible social media app called Daisie on August 1, 2018, with Dom Santry. Daisie is a multi-media social networking platform designed to help artists and creators from various creative industries showcase their work, discover projects, and collaborate, offering an alternative route for career development. The company is based in Shoreditch, in the East End of London. In May 2019, Daisie successfully raised 2.00 M GBP (2.50 M USD) in seed funding from investors including Founders Fund, 8VC, Kleiner Perkins, and the venture capital firm Shrug Capital. Eleven days after its public launch in May 2019, the app had reached 100,000 users, with 70 percent of the user base being female, primarily in London where most of the marketing efforts were concentrated. The app received a score of 4 out of 5 on AppAdvice.

Daisie allows users to search for creative projects and network with other users in their fields of interest. Unlike most other social media apps, user profiles grow by connecting with other creative individuals through "chains" and collaborating on projects, rather than by accumulating high follower counts, friends, or likes. Williams explained that the "goal is to have a community of artists who are collaborating with each other, uploading their work, sharing their projects and ultimately... help people with their own careers, rather than our own." Daisie does not allow company profiles, focusing instead on individual creators. Williams stated in 2019 that the platform enables creators to "let their art speak for themselves" instead of having to market themselves to fit someone else's idea of what their job should be. In 2019, Williams delivered a TEDx talk in Manchester titled "Don't strive to be famous, strive to be talented," concluding by introducing Daisie as a social network tool for artists to collaborate and regain control of their careers.

Williams also serves as the Creative Strategist and advisor to a platform called Contact, which launched in October 2020 and was co-founded by her former partner, Reuben Selby, who was previously part of her Daisie team. Initially, Contact aimed to connect agencies and fashion models, offering support features such as licensing and insurance. Following successful fundraising of 1.90 M USD (1.40 M GBP) in seed funding, the platform intends to expand into other creative fields, including photographers, stylists, and videographers. Contact provides an alternative approach to working in creative industries, which are currently dominated by agencies, by allowing individuals and businesses to directly discover and book creators and creative services, circumventing the need for an intermediary agency.

3.2. Commercial advertising and promotional activities

Williams has engaged in various commercial and promotional activities, often aligning with her personal values. In 2015, Williams delivered what The Daily Telegraph described as a feminist speech in New York at the launch of Always' "Like a girl" campaign. The speech was specifically aimed at the Generation Z demographic, of which Williams is a member. On February 2, 2020, Williams sang "Let It Go" from the film Frozen in an Audi commercial that aired during the broadcast of Super Bowl LIV. In July 2020, she was featured in Apple MacBook's "Made in the UK" campaign advertisement, celebrating UK-based creators alongside figures such as screenwriter and actor Michaela Coel, artist Grayson Perry, filmmaker Jenn Nkiru, animation studio Aardman, printmaker Gabriella Marcella, rapper Dave, and singer Labrinth. In the summer of 2020, she was also appointed as an ambassador for Cartier's new Pasha de Cartier watch.

In April 2021, H&M announced Williams as its global sustainability ambassador. This appointment followed H&M's December announcement that its foundation would invest 100.00 M USD (72.00 M GBP) in green initiatives. The goal was to promote the brand's shift towards a circular fashion model, encouraging customers to recycle unwanted garments to reduce waste and environmental impact. However, Williams and H&M faced backlash from some sustainability activists and fair fashion campaigners, who accused both of greenwashing. The fast-fashion brand's recycling initiative was criticized for not being comprehensive enough, for not consistently using sustainable materials from the outset, for perceived poor treatment of its workers, and for failing to meet its self-imposed Living Wage targets. The company strongly defended its actions. Williams herself was criticized for lending her celebrity status and financially benefiting from the corporate partnership.

3.3. Podcasts and other projects

In 2021, Williams launched a podcast titled Frank Film Club with filmmaker Lowri Roberts and casting director Hannah Marie Williams. Each episode features discussions and reviews of films they had recently watched.

4.1. Environmental and animal protection movements

Williams is a dedicated environmental activist, stating in a 2019 interview with Dazed Digital that "activist groups like Extinction Rebellion" were a major inspiration for her. She serves as a global ambassador and campaigner for dolphin trainer Ric O'Barry's Dolphin Project, actively participating in protests against dolphin hunts. She has also supported the environmental organization Greenpeace, joining campaigns such as "Save the Arctic". In April 2021, Williams was appointed the World Wildlife Fund's (WWF) first global ambassador for climate and nature. On the eve of COP26 in November 2021, Williams, in her capacity as the WWF Global Ambassador, delivered the opening address at the premiere of Sir David Attenborough's television series The Green Planet at Glasgow's Imax cinema.

4.2. Social movements and other charitable activities

Williams has actively supported various social movements and charitable initiatives. She has advocated against bullying, drawing from her own experience of being bullied after gaining fame from Game of Thrones. She supports anti-racism efforts, including the Black Lives Matter movement, and has campaigned for the clean water charity WaterAid. She has also used her public status to encourage young people to vote, notably for the Labour Party. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she donated 50.00 K GBP (approximately 62.50 K USD) to support the work of the Bristol Animal Rescue Centre, from which she had adopted a dog.

In collaboration with a designer from her platform Daisie, and alongside Zoe Sugg and activist Adwoa Aboah, Williams designed a limited-edition period bag for WaterAid's non-profit monthly subscription service Fempowered. The sales of these bags are intended to tackle taboos surrounding periods while raising money to address international inequalities related to period poverty.