Special Reports

Behind Star Wars And Princess Leia’s Shadow: Carrie Fisher’s Life and Career Remembered [Video]

By Beth Golden

Dec 29, 2016 01:32 AM EST

The world mourns the passing Carrie Fisher, the actress best known for playing Princess Leia Organa in the Star Wars film franchise.

Time reported that a family spokesperson confirmed the demise of the 60-year-old Fisher last Tuesday. She suffered a cardiac arrest while flying to Los Angeles from London last December 23.

More than her iconic role, Carrie also took on other projects and writing. Here are some things about the life and career of Ms. Fisher from Business Insider:

Carrie's parents are singer Eddie Fisher and actress Debbie Reynolds. No wonder entertainment came naturally with her.
At the age of 15 she played a role in Broadway in the 1973 revival of 'Irene'. It was her first acting role and the play starred her mother.
She took up acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.
Her first movie role came in 1975 with the film Shampoo which starred Warren Beatty.
In 1977 when she took on the life-changing role of Princess Leia in the George Lucas opus Star Wars. At 19, her no-nonsense portrayal earned her superstar status. Her bun hairstyle also made a fashion statement.
After her big screen break, Carrie worked on TV projects before coming back to reprise her role in the Star Wars sequel, The Empire Strikes Back in 1980.
She also starred in the classic comedy The Blues Brothers with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd released that same year.
Carrie told People once that Dan Aykroyd proposed to him on the set of the film.
She returned for the third installment of Star Wars in 1983. Her bikini slave outfit became as legendary as the film Return of the Jedi itself.
She married musician Paul Simon in 1983. The pair had a tumultuous marriage and divorced in 1984.
Diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1985, Carrie became a very public mental health awareness advocate.
She focused writing and her best-selling, semi-autobiographical book Postcards from the Edge came out in 1987. It was later adapted to a film that starred Meryl Streep.
In the next 20 years she became the go-to script doctor and consultant having worked uncredited for a number of Hollywood films like Outbreak, Hook and even helped Lucas draft the Star Wars prequels.