Carrie Fisher was born on October 21, 1956 and passed away on December 27, 2016. She is best remembered for her role as Princess Leia in the original Star Wars films.

Carrie was born in California and given her famous parents, actress Debbie Reynolds and singer Eddie Fisher, was on the Broadway stage at just 16 years old as a debutante in the show Irene, which also starred her mother. Her time on Broadway interfered with her education, so she dropped out of high school. Though she spent some time at both London's Central School of Speech and Drama and Sarah Lawrence College, she didn't end up graduating from either, and instead focused her theatrical career.

In 1975, she made her first film debut as Lorna Karpf in Shampoo, and just two years later, she starred as Princess Leia in Star Wars.

Her film success continued into the 1980s and 1990s. In 1987, Carrie published her first novel, Postcards from the Edge, and in 1990, Columbia Pictures released a film version of the novel.

She continued acting into the 2000s, also doing a bit of voice acting. She published a sequel to Postcards from the Edge in 2004.

From November 2006 to January 2007, Carrie wrote and performed in her one-woman play, Wishful Drinking. She published her autobiographical book, also called Wishful Drinking, in 2008.

In 2010, HBO aired a feature-length documentary based on a special live performance of the Wishful Drinking stage production. She was one of the featured performers at the Comedy Central Roast of Roseanne.

Carrie's memoir, The Princess Diarist, was released in NOvember 2016. Her audiobook recording of the memoir earned her the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album, which was awarded 13 months after her death.

Carrie dated Paul Simon in 1978, and in 1980, she was briefly engaged to Dan Akyroyd before getting back together with Paul Simon. They married in 1983 and divorced in 1984, though they did date for a time after their divorce as well. She then had a relationship with Bryan Lourd. They had a child together, Billie Lourd. Bryan ended up leaving her for a man. Carrie passed away at age 60. Her exact cause of death could not be determined, but sleep apnea and the buildup of fatty tissue on the walls of her arteries were among the contributing factors.

Carrie won the Wilde Wit of the Year award at the Dorian Awards in 2016. She won a Grammy for The Princess Diarist in 2017. Also in 2017, she won Best Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her role in Catastrophe at the Online Film & Television Association Awards. In 2019, She was inducted into the Film Hall of Fame: Actors, in 2021, she was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame: Actors, and in 2023, she was inducted into the Film Hall of Fame: Characters.