Carrie Frances Fisher (October 21, 1956 – December 27, 2016) was an American actress and writer.[3] She played Princess Leia in the Star Wars films (1977–1983). She reprised the role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), The Last Jedi (2017)—a posthumous release that was dedicated to her[4][5]—and appeared in The Rise of Skywalker (2019), through the use of unreleased footage from The Force Awakens.