Maisie Williams
Quick Facts
Biography
Margaret Constance "Maisie" Williams (born 15 April 1997) is an English actress. She made her professional acting debut as Arya Stark in the HBO fantasy television series Game of Thrones, for which she won the EWwy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama, the Portal Award for Best Supporting Actress – Television and Best Young Actor, and the Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor. In 2016, she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.
Williams has also had a recurring role in Doctor Who as Ashildr in 2015. In addition to television, she made her feature film debut in the mystery The Falling, for which she won the London Film Critics' Circle Award for Young Performer of the Year.
Early life
Williams was born in Bristol, UK. She has always been known as "Maisie" after the character from the comic strip The Perishers. Williams is the youngest of four children; her three older siblings are James, Beth and Ted. Born to Hilary Pitt (now Frances), a former university course administrator, she grew up in Clutton, Somerset. She attended Clutton Primary School and Norton Hill School in Midsomer Norton, before moving to Bath Dance College to study Performing Arts.
Career
Since 2011, Williams has played Arya Stark, a tomboyish young girl from a noble family, in the HBO fantasy drama television series Game of Thrones. Arya was Williams' first role in any professional capacity. She has received critical acclaim for her performance in the series. Williams continued to garner praise for her performance in the show's second season, and HBO submitted her for consideration in the Outstanding Supporting Actress category for the 2012 Primetime Emmy Awards, although she did not receive a nomination. She won the 2012 Portal Award for Best Supporting Actress – Television, and the Portal Award for Best Young Actor. At 15 years of age, Williams was the youngest actress ever to win in the Best Supporting Actress category. In March 2013, she was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Series – Supporting Young Actress and, in November 2013, won the BBC Radio 1 Teen Award for Best British Actor. To date, she has appeared in all six broadcast seasons.
In 2012, Williams played Loren Caleigh in the BBC series The Secret of Crickley Hall and appeared in a Funny or Die skit titled The Olympic Ticket Scalper. She also appeared in the independent films Heatstroke (2012) and Gold (2013), and the short films Corvidae (2013) and Up On The Roof (2013).
Williams also signed on to play Lorna Thompson in the sci-fi film We Are Monsters, which was set for a 2014 release.
In 2014, Williams portrayed Lydia in the British film The Falling, which premiered on 11 October 2014, and was released on 24 April 2015 in the UK. In December, Williams was in talks with Naughty Dog to star as Ellie in the film adaptation of the video game The Last of Us.
In January 2015, Williams appeared in one-off Channel 4 docu-drama Cyberbully, and in February she received European recognition with a Shooting Stars Award at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival. In February 2015, Williams played the leading role in the video clip of "Oceans" by British band Seafret. The theme of this clip is also bullying.
On 30 March 2015, the BBC announced that Williams would guest star in two episodes of Doctor Who ("The Girl Who Died" and "The Woman Who Lived"). Williams later returned to the series in the first and third episodes of the three-part series finale, entitled "Face the Raven" and "Hell Bent" respectively.
Filmography
Film
Title | Year | Role | Director | Notes | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Olympic Ticket Scalper | 2012 | Scraggly Sue | Nick Corirossi Charles Ingram | Short film | |
Heatstroke | 2012 | Jo O'Malley | Evelyn Purcell | ||
Up on the Roof | 2013 | Trish | Nour Wazzi | Short film | |
Corvidae | 2014 | Jay | Tom de Ville | Short film | |
Gold | 2014 | Abbie | Niall Heery | ||
The Falling | 2015 | Lydia Lamont | Carol Morley | ||
The Book of Love | 2016 | Millie | Bill Purple | ||
iBoy | 2017 | Lucy | Adam Randall | Post-production | |
A Storm in the Stars | 2017 | Isabel Baxter | Haifaa al-Mansour | Post-production | |
Early Man | 2018 | Goona | Nick Park | Voice; In-production |
Denotes films that have not yet been released |
Television
Title | Year | Role | Network | Notes | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Game of Thrones | 2011–present | Arya Stark | HBO | Main role | |
The Secret of Crickley Hall | 2012 | Loren Caleigh | BBC One | 3 episodes | |
Robot Chicken | 2014 | Various voices | Adult Swim | 2 episodes | |
Cyberbully | 2015 | Casey Jacobs | Channel 4 | Television film | |
Doctor Who | 2015 | Ashildr | BBC One | 4 episodes |
Music videos
- Oceans - Seafret (2015)
- Rest Your Love - The Vamps (2015)
- Sing - Pentatonix (2015)
- Sunday - Gardna (2015)
- ^ "Louise Johnston Management". Louise Johnston Management. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
- "Up On The Roof & Game of Thrones with Maisie Williams". Flicks and the City. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
- "Cat and Weasel Films // Corvidae". CatandWeasel.com. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
- Felperin, Leslie (October 13, 2014). "'The Falling': London Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
- Laura Prudom (March 4, 2015). "'Sleepy Hollow' Star Orlando Jones Joins 'The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea'". Variety. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
- Hooton, Christopher (January 13, 2017). "iBoy trailer: Maisie Williams Netflix movie sees a teen get a smartphone embedded in their brain". The Independent. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
- Tartaglione, Nancy (March 2, 2016). "Tom Sturridge, Maisie Williams & More Join Haifaa Al-Mansour's 'A Storm In The Stars'". Deadline. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
- "Maisie Williams Joins Aardman Animations' Early Man". ComingSoon.net. January 17, 2017. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
- "Game of Thrones: Cast". HBO. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
- Grant, Olly (November 18, 2012). "The Secret of Crickley Hall: a haunted house thriller with a hint of Hitchcock". The Guardian. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
- Cosslett, Rhiannon Lucy (December 12, 2014). "Maisie Williams: the Game Of Thrones star on cyberbullies and the fame game". The Guardian. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
- Warner, Sam (October 17, 2015). "Doctor Who met Game of Thrones tonight - but how did the fans react to Maisie Williams' debut?". Digital Spy. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
Awards and nominations
Year | Award | Category | Work | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2011 | Portal Award | Best Young Actor | Game of Thrones | Nominated | |
Scream Award | Best Ensemble | Nominated | |||
2012 | SFX Awards | Best Actress | Nominated | ||
Portal Award | Best Supporting Actress | Won | |||
Best Young Actor | Won | ||||
Screen Actors Guild Award | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Nominated | |||
Gold Derby TV Awards | Breakthrough Performer of the Year | Nominated | |||
2013 | Young Artist Award | Best Performance in a TV Series – Supporting Young Actress | Nominated | ||
BBC Radio 1 Teen Award | Best British Actress | Won | |||
2014 | Screen Actors Guild Award | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Game of Thrones | Nominated | |
EWwy Award | Best Supporting Actress, Drama | Won | |||
Online Film & Television Association Award | Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series | Nominated | |||
2015 | SFX Awards | Best Actress | Nominated | ||
Screen Actors Guild Award | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Nominated | |||
Empire Award | Empire Hero Award | Won | |||
EWwy Award | Best Supporting Actress, Drama | Nominated | |||
Berlin International Film Festival | Shooting Stars Award | Won | |||
Saturn Award | Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Television Series | Game of Thrones | Won | ||
2016 | Shorty Award | Favorite Actress | Nominated | ||
London Film Critics' Circle Award | Young British/Irish Performer Of The Year | The Falling | Won | ||
Evening Standard British Film Award | Rising Star | Won | |||
Screen Actors Guild Award | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Game of Thrones | Nominated | ||
Saturn Award | Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Television Series | Nominated | |||
Online Film & Television Association Award | Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series | Nominated | |||
Primetime Emmy Award | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series | Nominated | |||
2017 | Screen Actors Guild Award | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Pending |