Famous Like Me > Actor > M > Peter Mayhew
Profile of Peter Mayhew
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| Name: |
Peter Mayhew |
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| Date of Birth: |
19th May 1944 |
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| Place of Birth: |
Barnes, England, UK |
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| Profession: |
Actor |
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From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia
Peter Mayhew (born May 19, 1944 in Barnes, London, England) is a British/American actor, best known for playing the Wookiee Chewbacca in the Star Wars movies. He is 7'3" (2.21 metres) tall.
Before getting into acting, Mayhew worked as an orderly at London's King's College Hospital. He received his first acting job in 1977 when the producers of the movie Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger discovered Mayhew from a photograph in a newspaper article about men with large feet, and they cast him in the role of the minotaur.
When casting roles for his first Star Wars film, producer George Lucas needed a tall actor who could fit in the costume for the beastly Chewbacca. He originally had in mind bodybuilder David Prowse, but Prowse was instead cast to play the role of Darth Vader. This led Lucas on a search which turned up Mayhew, who has played the part of Chewbacca in four Star Wars films.
Mayhew was honoured when Chewbacca was given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1997 MTV Movie Awards.
Mayhew now lives in Granbury, Texas, and is the owner of his own business. He took the oath to become a naturalized citizen of the United States on October 17, 2005 at a ceremony in Arlington, Texas. In an interview with the Fort Worth Star Telegram he jokingly noted that he didn't get a medal at this ceremony either; a reference to the Star Wars scene in which Luke and Han get medals but the Wookie gets none.
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