Maisie Williams 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 in 2011, 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 (2014), 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.

In 2018, Williams is set to star as Wolfsbane in the superhero film New Mutants.

Public Image

Williams has been very vocal in terms of social issues like gender equality and feminism. In interviews, she has advised the public to stop using the word "feminist" and instead classify people that don't advocate for gender equality as "sexist".

Filmography

Film

Title	Year	Role	Director	Notes
'	2012			Short film
Heatstroke	2012
Up on the Roof	2013	Trish		Short film; Also executive producer
Corvidae	2013	Jay		Short film
Gold	2014	Abbie
'	2015
'	2016	Millie
iBoy	2017	Lucy
Mary Shelley	2017			Post-production
Stealing Silver	2017	Leonie		Short film; Post-production
Departures	2018	Skye		Filming
New Mutants	2018	Rahne Sinclair / Wolfsbane		Filming
Early Man	2018	Goona		Voice; In-production

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Television

Title	Year	Role	Network	Notes
Game of Thrones	2011-present		HBO	Main role
'	2012		BBC One	3 episodes
Robot Chicken	2014	Various voices	Adult Swim	2 episodes
Cyberbully	2015		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)

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
2011	Portal Award	Best Young Actor	Game of Thrones
	Scream Award	Best Ensemble
2012	SFX Awards	Best Actress
	Portal Award	Best Supporting Actress
		Best Young Actor
	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
	Gold Derby TV Awards	Breakthrough Performer of the Year
2013	Young Artist Award	Best Performance in a TV Series - Supporting Young Actress
	BBC Radio 1 Teen Award	Best British Actress
2014	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	Game of Thrones
	EWwy Award	Best Supporting Actress, Drama
2015	SFX Awards	Best Actress
	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
	Empire Award	Empire Hero Award
	EWwy Award	Best Supporting Actress, Drama
	Berlin International Film Festival	Shooting Stars Award
	Saturn Award	Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Television Series	Game of Thrones
2016	Shorty Award	Favorite Actress
	London Film Critics' Circle Award	Young British/Irish Performer Of The Year	The Falling
	Evening Standard British Film Award	Rising Star
	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	Game of Thrones
	Saturn Award	Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Television Series
	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
2017	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series