Overview (4)

Mini Bio (1)

Peter Mayhew was born on May 19, 1944 in Barnes, London, England, to Constance Elizabeth (Yeates) and Walter Henry Mayhew. Later resident in Texas, this former resident of Yorkshire, England, was working as a hospital attendant at the King's College Hospital in London when film producer Charles H. Schneer saw his photo, literally standing above the crowd around him. Schneer cast him in Sinbad und das Auge des Tigers (1977), Ray Harryhausen's special effects film.



A year later, he was offered another role. Mayhew was told it was for a big hairy beast. It was the role of Chewbacca, the faithful 200 year-old Wookiee in Krieg der Sterne (1977) and his life was changed forever. Following the original Star Wars trilogy, he made several television commercials in the Wookiee costume.



In 1997, the 20th-anniversary celebrations of Star Wars were announced with the release of the "Special Edition" and all the conventions started. He was active on the "Star Wars" convention circuit where he signed autographs. He wrote two books, "Growing Up Giant" and "My Favorite Giant", and founded a non-profit 501(c)3 charity organization called "The Peter Mayhew Foundation".

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Peter Mayhew (updated by Robert Sieger)

Spouse (1)

Trade Mark (2)

Chewbacca from the Star Wars films



Towering height and slender frame



Trivia (14)

Prior to starring as Chewbacca in the original Star Wars trilogy, he was an orderly at London's King's College Hospital.



Chewbacca won a Lifetime Achievement award at the MTV Movie Awards.



Mayhew, like many actors connected with the Star Wars universe, makes frequent appearances at sci-fi conventions. Although famous guests at these events normally make a charge for autographs, some actors connected with famous movies from the past make their living touring different conventions.



After getting the role of Chewbacca, Mayhew went to the zoo and began studying the movements and mannerisms of various large animals to incorporate into the character Chewbacca.





Fell sick during the filming of Das Imperium schlägt zurück (1980), which prompted director Irvin Kershner to bring in another extremely tall actor to fill in for him as Chewbacca. All the footage with the double was scrapped and reshot after Mayhew recovered because Irvin Kershner found that the double's body movements did not match Mayhew's.



Had the option of either playing Darth Vader or Chewbacca, as did David Prowse . Mayhew chose Chewbacca because he wanted to play a hero, whilst Prowse chose Darth Vader because he wanted to play a villain.

Became a naturalized United States citizen, along with 441 other people from 77 countries, in Arlington, Texas on October 17, 2005.



(November 14-16, 2008) Attended the Big Apple Comic Con.



Attended OmegaCon in Birmingham, Alabama. [March 2008]



(May 7-8, 2005) Attended the Scandinavian Sci-Fi, Game and Film Convention in Malmõ, Sweden.



In 2013, he was forced to undergo double knee replacement surgery as a result of of his towering height.



When Disney bought the rights to Star Wars From George Lucas, they decided to scrap the expanded universe, in which Chewbacca was killed in the first novel "Vector Prime" of the new Jedi order.



Is the father of three daughters.



Personal Quotes (3)

It's curious that when you look down at people you see their defects, their irregularities more clearly. I like my bird's-eye view. I think it's what gives Chewie his pride, his bigness. Bigness of heart.



When I go to restaurants I can never get my legs under a table. I bump my head in planes. People who sit behind me in the theater hate me. But I have given up apologizing to the world.



[on doing Star Wars] this has been the best thing that ever happened to me, in the past 25 years I've been able to travel all over the world and get paid for it I never had to pay for a thing I can go out in public without being recognized if I want to be recognized in public it will happen,Star Wars was great to me, I'm set for life.

