Carrie Frances Fisher (October 21, 1956 – December 27, 2016) was an American actress and writer. 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—and appeared in The Rise of Skywalker (2019), through the use of unreleased footage from The Force Awakens.