Maisie Williams
Margaret Constance "Maisie" Williams (born 15 April 1997) is an English actress. Williams made her acting debut in 2011 as Arya Stark, a lead character in the HBO epic medieval fantasy television series Game of Thrones (2011–2019). She gained recognition and critical praise for her work on the show, and received two Emmy Award nominations. Williams' other television appearances include Ashildr in the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who (2015), starring in the British docudrama television film Cyberbully (2015), and in the British science-fiction teen thriller film iBoy (2017). She played the central character in the comedy action drama miniseries Two Weeks to Live (2020), and portrayed punk rock icon Jordan in Pistol (2022), a biopic about the Sex Pistols. Williams also voiced Cammie MacCloud in the American animated web series Gen:Lock (2019–2021).
Not to be confused with Maizie Williams.
Maisie Williams
In 2014, she starred as Lydia in her first feature film, the coming-of-age mystery drama The Falling, for which she received critical acclaim and several awards. She co-starred in films such as the romantic period-drama film Mary Shelley (2017), the animated prehistorical sports comedy film Early Man (2018), and the romantic comedy-drama film Then Came You (2018). In 2018, she made her stage debut in Lauren Gunderson's play I and You at the Hampstead Theatre in London, to positive reviews. In 2020, she starred in the superhero horror film The New Mutants and the psychological thriller The Owners.
In 2019, Williams jointly developed and launched the social media platform Daisie, a multi-media networking app designed to be an alternative means to help artists and creators (especially those who are trying to get started) in their careers.
Early life and education[edit]
Margaret Constance Williams was born in Bristol on 15 April 1997 to Gary Williams and Hilary Frances (née Pitt), a university course administrator who later gave up her job to support her daughter's acting career.[1][2][3] 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.[1][4][5] Williams has been known as "Maisie" from an early age,[a][7] nicknamed because of her perceived likeness to the cartoon character from the UK newspaper comic strip The Perishers.[1][2][8]
Williams went to Clutton Primary School and Norton Hill School in Midsomer Norton. She later transferred to Bath Dance College to study performing arts, where she trained in musical theatre, ballet, pointe, tap, street, freestyle, gymnastics and trampolining, with the ambition of becoming a professional dancer.[1][9][10] She left school at 14 years old partly due to the successful start of her acting career. She was then home educated, but did not take any GCSEs.[11][12][7]
Other career activities[edit]
Production companies[edit]
Williams set up Daisy Chain Productions in early 2016 with Dom Santry and Bill Milner (both of whom she met while working on iBoy) to develop and produce UK-originated short films, theatrical features and high-end television drama, with a focus on opportunities for youth and development of talent in the UK. In 2017 the short film Stealing Silver, which Williams executive produced and starred in alongside Ronald Pickup, was the company's first production.[147][148][149]
Williams and Lowri Roberts, via their production company Rapt, teamed up with independent studio Delaval Film as executive producers on a 15-minute British/Czech co-produced stop motion animation short, Salvation Has No Name. Written and directed by Joseph Wallace, filming began in 2020 at Aardman Studios, and is set to be screened at festivals in 2022.[150] Salvation Has No Name, to be screened at festivals in 2022, is a cinematic folktale that explores the issue of xenophobia and faith around the refugee crisis through a surreal performance of a troupe of circus clowns.[151][152][153]
Internet career[edit]
With Santry, Williams co-developed and launched the beta version of a new iOS-compatible social media app called Daisie, on 1 August 2018.[154] Daisie is a multi-media social networking platform, designed to help artists and creators of all types and backgrounds from across the various creative industries to showcase their work, discover projects and collaborate and provide an alternative route to develop their careers.[4][155][156] The company is based in Shoreditch, in the East End of London.[7] In May 2019, Daisie raised £2 million ($2.5 million) in seed funding.[b] Eleven days after the public launch, in May 2019, the number of users reached one hundred thousand (with 70 per cent of the user base being female), most of whom were in London where the bulk of its marketing efforts had taken place.[157] On AppAdvice, Daisie achieved a score of 4 out of 5.[158]
Users can search for creative projects, and network with other users in the fields they are interested in.[156][159] Users' profiles grow by connecting with other creative people (via "chains") and working collaboratively on projects (not by obtaining high follower popularity counts, friends, or likes typical of most other social media apps).[155][159] Williams explains: "The way your profile grows is by the chains that you make. To make a chain with someone, you have to work together."[160][161] Creative users can use Daisie to showcase their own work or their collaborations in the same or multiple arts industries. They can also gain guidance from leading experts in their field via a question and answer style format with others who have more experience in their fields.[156][161][162][158]
Williams and Santry said that they designed Daisie as a tool for young people to bypass the obstacles, both internal and external, that prevent budding artists from gaining recognition and exposure.[160] Williams stated 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."[162] Daisie does not allow company profiles, the focus being on individual creators. Williams explained in 2019 that instead of creators "having to market themselves to fit someone else's idea of what their job would be, they can let their art speak for themselves."[155]
In 2019, Williams presented a TEDx talk in Manchester on the topic "Don't strive to be famous, strive to be talented". She ended the talk by introducing Daisie as a social network tool for artists to collaborate with each other, and as a way for artists to take back control.[163][164][5][165]
Williams is also the Creative Strategist and advisor to a platform called Contact (launched in October 2020) which was co-founded by Williams' partner Reuben Selby, who was formerly part of her Daisie team. Initially targeted at connecting agencies and fashion models (including support features including licensing and insurance). Following successful fundraising ($1.9 million (£1.4 million) seed funding), the intention is to expand into other creative fields such as photographers, stylists, videographers, and more. Contact offers an alternative approach to working in the creative industries which is currently dominated by agencies. Via Contact, individuals and businesses can discover and book creators and creative services directly, circumventing the need for an agency.[166]
In 2021, Williams started a podcast, Frank Film Club, with filmmaker Lowri Roberts and casting director Hannah Marie Williams, with each episode discussing and reviewing a film they had recently watched.[167]
