Margaret Constance "Maisie" Williams^[1] (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 (2011–2019), for which she won the EWwy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama and the Portal Award for Best Supporting Actress – Television and Best Young Actor, as well as the Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor twice. She was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2016 and 2019.^[2][3]

Williams had a recurring role as Ashildr in the science fiction series Doctor Who (2015) and voices the main role of Cammie MacCloud in the animated series Gen:Lock (2019–present). She made her stage debut in Lauren Gunderson's 2018 play I and You at Hampstead Theatre. Williams made her feature film debut in the mystery drama The Falling (2014), for which she won the London Film Critics' Circle Award for Young Performer of the Year. She has since starred in the thriller iBoy (2017), the animated comedy Early Man (2018), and the romantic drama Then Came You (2019).

Williams is also an Internet entrepreneur. In 2019, she co-launched the social media platform Daisie, designed for creative people to network and collaborate on creative projects. The project is intended to help new artists and creators to gain exposure for their work, and to connect them with potential mentors.^{[4][5][6][7][8][9]}

Margaret Constance Williams was born on 15 April 1997^[10] in Bristol.^[11] She is nicknamed "Maisie" after the character from the comic strip The Perishers.^[12] Maisie is the youngest of four children; her three older siblings are James, Beth, and Ted.^[12] Born to Hilary Pitt (now Frances),^[13] a former university course administrator, she grew up in Clutton, Somerset.^[11][14] She was mainly brought up by her mother, with help from her stepfather. Her surname comes from her father.^[15] She attended Clutton Primary School and Norton Hill School^[16] in Midsomer Norton, before moving to Bath Dance College to study Performing Arts.^[17][18] She did not sit her GCSEs, even though she was "predicted to gain high grades".^[19]

In 2011, Williams made her professional acting debut as Arya Stark, a tomboyish young girl from a noble family, in the HBO fantasy drama television series Game of Thrones.^[20] Chosen from a pool of 300 actresses across England,^[21] Arya was Williams' first role in any professional capacity.^[22] She has received critical acclaim for her performance in the series, especially in the show's second season.^{[23][24][25][26]} HBO submitted her for consideration in the Outstanding Supporting Actress category for the 2012 Primetime Emmy Awards, although she did not receive a nomination.^[27] 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.^[28] In March 2013, she was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Series – Supporting Young Actress for her work on the show and, in November 2013, won the BBC Radio 1 Teen Award for Best British Actor.^[29][30] She has appeared in all eight broadcast seasons, in July 2018, she announced the completion of her role in series. The final episode aired in May 2019.^[31]

In 2012, Williams played Loren Caleigh in the BBC supernatural thriller series The Secret of Crickley Hall and appeared in a Funny or Die skit titled The Olympic Ticket Scalper.^[32] She also appeared in the independent films Heatstroke (2012) and Gold (2013), and the short films Corvidae (2013) and Up On The Roof (2013).^{[33][34][35][36]}

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.^[14][37] 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.^[38][39]

In Autumn 2015, Williams guest starred in series 9 of the BBC series Doctor Who. She appeared in the four episodes, "(6) The Girl Who Died", "(7) The Woman Who Lived", "(10) Face the Raven", and "(12) Hell Bent". She acted 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".^[40]

In 2018 Williams played Goona a Bronze Age tomboy football enthusiast in Nick Park’s animated prehistoric comedy adventure, Early Man, alongside Eddie Redmayne and Tom Hiddleston.^[41] From the 18 October to 24 November 2018, Williams starred as Caroline in the stage play I and You, which was written by Lauren Gunderson. The play premiered at the Hampstead Theatre in London.^[42][43]

In 2019 she starred in the voice cast of gen:LOCK, an animated series on the Rooster Teeth subscription service. Williams voices the role of Cammie MacCloud, a mischievous Scottish hacker, alongside a cast that includes Michael B. Jordan, David Tennant and Dakota Fanning.^[44] Also in 2019 Williams starred alongside Asa Butterfield and Nina Dobrev in the teen drama film Then Came You, in which she played a teenager with a terminal illness. The film premiered at the Woodstock Film Festival on October 12, 2018, and was released nationwide in 2019.

In April 2020, Williams is set to star as Wolfsbane in the delayed Disney/Fox superhero horror film The New Mutants.^[45][46] Plus in 2020 she has been cast to portray Kim Noakes a misfit on the run from a murderous gangster and the police in Two Weeks to Live (a six-part comedy series for Sky UK) and she is set to star in the 1990s-set thriller The Owners.^[47][48]

Williams set up Daisy Chain Productions with Dom Santry and Bill Milner in early 2016 to develop and produce UK-originated short films, theatrical features and high-end television drama. Stealing Silver was the company's first production.^[49]

On 1 August 2018, Williams launched the beta version of a new iOS compatible social media app called Daisie alongside Dom Santry, with whom she also founded the film production company Daisy Chain Productions. Daisie is aimed at creative people from the worlds of art, fashion, TV, film, photography, music and literature. Its aim is to bring people across industries together, help foster collaboration with other artists and provide an alternative route into creative industries. Williams said "Our main 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”.^[50][51][52] Williams said in 2018 that Daisie's focus is on giving the power back to the creator. “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.”^[49]

In May 2019 Daisie raised £2 million ($2.5 million) in seed funding from Founders Fund, 8VC, Kleiner Perkins, and from the newer venture capital firm Shrug Capital, set up by AngelList’s former head of marketing Niv Dror, who also separately invested. 11 days after the public launch, in May 2019, the number of users reached 100,000, most of whom were in London, as the bulk of its marketing efforts have taken place in the startup’s home city; with 70 per cent of user base being female.^[49][53]

In 2019, Williams presented a TEDx talk in Manchester on the topic "Don't strive to be famous, strive to be talented", where she discussed Daisie.^[54]