Bio of Peter Mayhew
Chewbacca of Star Wars
After playing the part of the Minoton in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger and working with the great special effect artist Ray Harryhausen, Peter Mayhew returned to his job at Kings College Hostpial in London only to be called again about a year later to play another large role. The role of Chewbacca the wookiee, the loyal sidekick of Han Solo and the Co Pilot of the Millineum Falcon, was played by Peter in Star Wars A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and The Return of the Jedi.
When the movies were finished, Peter moved to Yorkshire in Northern England where he lived quietly for 14 years. As the Special Edition was released, Peter found himself in demand on the SciFi Convention circuit and began making personal appearances and making many talk show guest appearances and doing radio and newspaper interviews. He donned the wookiee suit again in 1997 to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from MTV which was happily presented to him by his little space buddy, Carrie Fisher.
The last several years were spent preparing for and filming Episode III, Revenge of the Sith where Peter reprised his role as Chewbacca and the world was introduced to another wonderful world in the Star Wars Universe, the world of wookiees. George Lucas set aside time to personally direct Peters scenes himself. Peter has been in the wookiee suit many times in the past year to help promote the release of Sith and as a feature character in several commercials. He also did a guest appearance as Chewbacca at the AFI Lifetime Achievement Awards in 2005 for which George Lucas was the recipient.
As many of you know, Peter spends his time meeting and greeting fans at numerous conventions around the world, as many as 20 a year, and enjoys the friendships that the Star Wars universe have brought to his life. One of those friendships became his wife in 1999 when he left England and moved to Texas. His family now consists of his wife, 3 girls, 2 dogs, 2 cats and part time, two in-laws. Peters hobby is woodworking.
Peter has been noted by Steve Sansweet, Director of Content Management and Fan Relations for Lucasfilm, as their best good will ambassador because of the warm relationship that he enjoys with the fans.
You can learn more about Peter on his Official seb site:
WWW.PETERMAYHEW.COM
Online Now!
