Back when J.J. Abrams was casting Star Wars: The Force Awakens, he could not find an actress to play Rey. The director decided to give Carrie Fisher’s daughter Billie Lourd a call to see if she was interested in acting. Something she tells Ellen DeGeneres on her talk show that her mom and father, talent agent Bryan Lourd, did not want her to do.
She did not get that part that eventually went to Daisy Ridley, but she did land a smaller role in the film. When she came back from shooting her scenes, she told her mom how comfortable she was acting. That was when Princess Leia told her kid, if you are comfortable in one of the most uncomfortable environments, then you should act. Shortly afterwards, she had dinner with Ryan Murphy that she was acting, and a week later she was filming Scream Queens. The rest is Hollywood history.
She might have gotten her acting genes from her grandmother Debbie Reynolds and her mom, but she got the call from Abrams that changed her life.
