Cailey Fleming
Cailey Fleming is an actor, born 2007.
Fleming was born in Mississippi in 2007 and was eight years old when The Force Awakens opened with her in it, playing Rey as a child. That is a strange way to enter an industry: recognisable to millions of people who could not pick her out of a room.
The job that actually shaped her was Judith Grimes on The Walking Dead, which she played from 2018 to 2022 and then carried into The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live. The show had to ask a primary-school child to carry scenes about grief, command and violence, and she was steady enough that the writers kept giving her more. Along the way she did smaller turns in Peppermint and Better Things, and an episode of Creepshow.
IF in 2024 was the first time she led a feature, opposite imaginary friends and a lot of empty air, and it is the clearest evidence of what she can do without a franchise around her. She is still very early, and the catalogue is short, so any claim about what she becomes would be guesswork.
Movies (6)
TV (4)
Where to start with Cailey Fleming
Watch IF before anything else, because it is the only thing so far built around her rather than featuring her, and playing against invisible co-stars is a real test that she passes.
Then The Walking Dead, though be sensible about it: her run begins in the later seasons, and you will want context before Judith becomes a character rather than a baby. The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live continues that thread. Peppermint is a small part in a hard revenge thriller and shows her working in a completely different register. Better Things is the one for people who like actors more than franchises. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a few seconds of screen time and belongs at the end of this list, not the start.