Daisy Edgar-Jones was born in Islington, London, England, to Northern Irish mother Wendy and Scottish father Philip. Her father, Philip Edgar-Jones, is director of Sky Arts and head of entertainment at Sky, whereas her mom, Wendy Edgar-Jones, is a former drama film editor. She grew up in Muswell Hill, London, and first acted in a school play at the age of 5. Since both her parents worked in the media, Daisy was always encouraged by her parents to pursit a career in the entertainment industry like she dreamed of. She attended the independent The Mount School for Girls and Woodhouse College before being admitted to the National Youth Theatre at age 14 following an audition process, a school where many famous faces first started off – including Daniel Craig. One of the productions she did during her time at the National Youth Theatre was The Reluctant Fundamentalist at The Yard Theatre in Hackney. In 2016, she finished her studies at Woodhouse College with an A*AB in drama and theatre studies, English language and history.

In 2016, Daisy landed a small role in the 2016 Outnumbered Christmas Special on BBC One while still studying at Woodhouse College. Following her appearance on the TV special, she was then cast as Olivia Marsden in ITV’s comedy drama Cold Feet alongside James Nesbitt. In 2018, Daisy gained her first larger roles when she appeared as Jessica Thompson in two episodes of Silent Witness and in the independent coming-of-age feature film Pond Life directed by Bill Buckhurst. In 2019, she got the role as Delia Rawson in two episodes of the 2019 BBC and HBO series Gentleman Jack.

In May 2019, it was announced that Daisy had been cast in the main role of Marianne alongside Paul Mescal as Connell in the Hulu and BBC Three series Normal People, an adaptation of the novel by Sally Rooney. This became Daisy’s big breakthrough, as her portrayal of Marianne captured the hearts of both viewers and critics around the world. She received several big nominations for her part, including Critics’ Choice, BAFTA, and Golden Globe Awards, and many critics claimed she only lost out due to extremely strong competition that year in the Best Female actress in a TV series category.

Between 2019 and 2021, Daisy played Emily Gresham for the first two seasons of War of the Worlds opposite Gabriel Byrne and Elizabeth McGovern. Daisy’s character Emily has Stargardt disease (a form of macular degeneration), which developed when she was about 13. When asked about her character, Daisy said that “when we meet her at the start, she’s just a very normal girl, she’s got lots of friends, she’s a bit of a teenager with her mum in that she is a bit stroppy. As the story develops, we see that she isn’t actually the person she or we thought she was.” She also states that she thinks the show differed from other alien and sci-fi shows because of how the stories are a lot more about the relationships between the human beings in the plot, such as the nuances of interrelationships and of people changing and of survival and of sacrifice and of what happens in these situations.

In 2020, Daisy went back to hear theatre roots and starred in the February 2020 revival of Albion at the Almeida Theatre, which was recorded and later broadcast by the BBC that August. Daisy portrayed Zara, and the cast included Nigel Betts, Edyta Budnik, Wil Coban, Angel Coulby, Dónal Finn, Geoffrey Freshwater, Victoria Hamilton, Margot Leicester, Nicholas Rowe and Helen Schlesinger.

Her first post-Normal People project became the thriller/comedy film Fresh, which premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. Daisy played Noa, and the film showcased the horrors of modern dating seen through Noa’s defiant battle to survive her new boyfriend’s (played by Sebastian Stan) unusual appetites. The film generally received positive reviews from critics, with Rotten Tomatos’s consensus reading As gripping as it is upsetting, Fresh makes a provocative meal out of the horror of modern dating.” The film premiered in March 2022, and Daisy was once again praised for her performance.

Next up for Daisy is Dustin Lance Black’s true crime miniseries Under the Banner of Heaven, an adaptation of Jon Krakauer’s book of the same name, and the film adaption of Delia Owen’s Where the Crawdads Sing.