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Star Wars Insider Magazine #97 - 30th Anniversary tribute piece
Star Wars Insider Magazine #90 
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Warwick Davis
Warwick Davis was born on February 2, 1970 in Epsom, Surrey, England, UK. He was only 11 when he played Wicket in ROTJ with his sister Kim Davis. He is married to Samantha Burrows (Burroughs - the daughter of Peter Burroughs) and has one child, Annabelle (1997). They share a home in Lincolnshire, UK From his official site: Warwick’s career as an actor came about purely by chance. Back in 1981 his Grandmother heard a radio announcement calling for people under 4ft tall to appear in the new Star Wars film Return of the Jedi. Originally cast as a background artist, Warwick’s gestures were so characteristic of George Lucas’s vision of an Ewok, that he was recast as Wicket, who became one of the film’s lead creature characters. "I based Wicket’s inquisitive nature and movements on my pet dog". Toy figures of Wicket were released after the films opening and were labeled, Wicket W. Warrick In 1984, after the success of Return of the Jedi, Lucas went on to make two Ewok Movies for ABC television, Caravan of Courage, and in 1985, Battle for Endor, Warwick reprised his performance as Wicket in both. Also in 1985, Warwick appeared alongside David Bowie in the fantasy film, Labyrinth. In 1987 Warwick was called to Elstree Studios in London for a meeting with Ron Howard and George Lucas. They discussed a new project Willow, written specifically with Warwick in mind. To date, Warwick’s acting career had consisted only of roles involving creature costumes, where his face was hidden. Willow was the first opportunity Warwick had to show that his acting talent extended beyond the portrayal of strange creatures, to the depiction of real human emotion. In this epic fantasy Warwick co-starred with Val Kilmer. The film was privilege to a Royal premiere in the presence of The Prince and Princess of Wales. After the success of Willow, Warwick was immediately back in front of the camera, this time for the small screen. He was cast in two series of the BBC television classic, The Chronicles of Narnia. In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Warwick portrayed the swashbuckling mouse Reepicheep, and in The Silver Chair he played Glimfeather the owl. Up until this point in his career, Warwick had always been cast as a ‘goodie’. On reading the script for Leprechaun, he was thrilled to learn that this Leprechaun was in fact a ‘baddie’. "It is every actors dream to play an evil character, a part to really get your thespian teeth into". The film has achieved cult status with movie fans in America, which prompted no less than 4 sequels to be made! In 1995, Warwick appeared as Grildrig in Gulliver’s Travels. The series set new American television audience records by attracting a staggering 56 million viewers! In 1997, George Lucas invited Warwick to return to that famous galaxy far, far away for Star Wars - Episode 1 "The Phantom Menace". Warwick played no less than 3 roles in the film, with character names Wald and Weazel. He was also honored to play the famous Jedi Master, Yoda for scenes where the character was required to walk. Later in 1997, a script arrived entitled A Very Unlucky Leprechaun. No, not another horror movie, this time the Leprechaun, known as Lucky, was friendly, if a little eccentric. The success of this children’s film meant a sequel, The White Pony was made the following year. One of Warwick’s lesser-known roles was in the Floella Benjamin’s Children’s ITV series, Jamboree. He was one of the Bopkins. Warwick continues to be extremely busy. During this last year he was seen in The 10th Kingdom, in which he played Acorn, and the BBC’s new sit-com, The Fitz. He spent six weeks in Canada filming a new version of the Snow White story for US television, and is currently shooting Al's Lads and Harry Potter in which he plays Professor Flitwick and the Goblin Bank Teller. As well as the many roles on the big and small screen, Warwick has trodden the boards of theatres throughout the United Kingdom. In addition to numerous appearances in productions of Snow White, he has appeared as Smee in Kevin Wood’s production of Peter Pan, and last year, in Stevenage, as the Genie of the Ring in Aladdin.
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