Carrie Fisher was born on October 21st, 1956 in Los Angeles, California. Her mother was actress Debbie Reynolds and her father was singer Eddie Fisher. Following in her parent’s footsteps in show business, Fisher left the United States in 1973 for the United Kingdom to study at London’s Central Schools of Speech and Drama. Her first film debut came in 1975 in the movie Shampoo. However, it wasn’t until 1977 when Fisher became an overnight superstar with her role as Princess Leia in the blockbuster film Stars Wars at the age of 21. Fisher’s role as the fearless and witty Princess Leia made her an immediate cultural icon and Fisher went on to continue this role in the films equally successful sequels, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Star Wars The Return of the Jedi (1983). However, during the 1980s, Fisher was also struggling with alcohol, drugs and depression, but as the 80s closed Fisher came back to her self and even wrote a semi-autobiographical book called Postcards From the Edge on her experiences. In 2016 Harvard college presented Fisher with the Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism highlighting her activism and recognition of mental illness and addiction. In her acceptance speech Fisher told the audience “I’ve never been ashamed of my mental illness; it never occurred to me. Many people thank me for talking about it, and mothers can tell their kids whens they are upset with the diagnosis that Princess Leia is bipolar too.” Later in December of 2016 Fisher suffered a heart attack on a plane ride from London to California and died at the hospital at the age of 60.
-Connor Lacey
Photo credit: Wikipedia