WARWICK DAVIS.

From Wicket to Leprechaun.

"Warwick in a normal pose"

Warwick's first starring role came about purely by chance. In 1981 his grandmother saw an advertisement for actors under 4' to play Ewoks in Star Wars Return of the Jedi. Warwick who at the time was 11 was cast as an Ewok extra. Warwicks actions and jestures caught the eye of director George Lucas who saw in Warwick everything he had imagined an Ewok to be. George recast Warwick as Wicket who went on to become one of the head creature characters in the Star Wars movies. Warwick says "he based Wickets inquisitive nature on the movements of his pet dog". When the Wicket action figure was released in stores Lucas had the name on the box read Wicket W Warwick. George Lucas cast Warwick as Wicket in two more Ewok adventures he wrote for television. Caravan of Courage in 1984 and Ewoks and the Battle of Endor in 1985. As well as Battle for Endor in 1985 Warwick was also cast by Lucas in the movie Labyrinth with David Bowie as one of the Goblin Guards.

"Warwick and George Lucas on the set of Willow"

In 1987 Warwick attended a meeting with George Lucas and Ron Howard to discuss the film Willow which was written with Warwick in mind. This would be Warwicks first opportunity to act 'without a mask' as up until now he had been hidden from the camera. He could now prove that his acting repertuoir extended beyond creatures and extended to portraying human emotions. The epic fantasy which also starred Val Kilmer opened to a royal premiere attended by the Prince and Princess of Wales.

"The greatest actor of all time"

After extensive world wide promotion work for Willow Warwick returned to England to star in the BBC's Chronicles of Narnia series. He starred in The Voyage of the Dawn Tredder as the mouse Repicheep and also in the Silver Chair as Glimfeather the owl.

"Behind the scenes of Leprechaun 4, Warwick watches on second from right"

Up until this point in his career Warwick had played nothing but 'goodies' so when Warwick got the call from his agent about Leprechaun, he was all to happy to be playing a baddy, Warwick said "It's every actors dream to play an evil character a part to really get your thespian teeth into". Warwick went on to make Leprechaun in 1991, it became a cult success in America and gave birth to 3 sequels which Warwick stars in as well. To take on the role of the Leprechaun Warwick has to spend three hours in make-up each day. In 1995 Warwick starred alongside Ted Danson in Gullivers Travels in which he played Grildrig. His most recent movie is Prince Valiant where he plays Valiants sidekick Petchet.

"Warwick in a menacing pose from Leprechaun 3"

Besides film acting Warwick has been busy in theatres starring in Kevin Woods Peter Pan with Robert Powell during the 1996/97 christmas pantomime season. Warwick has also written his own Action\Adventure television series 'Spymaster'. The inspiration for writing this series came from Warwick's yearning to play the perfect role "something where he can wear jeans and a T-shirt that takes place in a non-fantasy environment". Warwick says "There is a distinct lack of television that the whole family can watch together and enjoy on different levels. I think that children could relate more easily to characters there own size, whilst the adults could laugh with the characters as they deal with life on the 'short' side". Several production companies have shown interest in this show so Warwicks dream of the perfect role might not be that far away from reality. Recently Warwick starred in the movie A very Unlucky Leprechaun a film about a family who move into a mansion inhabited by a leprechaun. Warwick has also been cast by Lucas again in the Star Wars prequels.

"A very unlucky Leprechaun"

WARWICK DAVIS FILMOGRAPHY

(Year of Release)

1983 Return of The Jedi as Wicket
1984 The Ewok Adventure (a.k.a Caravan of Courage) as Wicket
1985 Ewoks and the Battle of Edor as Wicket
1986 Labyrinth as a Goblin Corps
1988 Willow as Willow
1989 The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Tredder as Reepicheep
1990 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair as Glimfeather
1993 Leprechaun as Leprechaun
1994 Leprechaun 2 as Leprechaun
1995 Leprechaun 3 as Leprechaun
1996 Leprechaun 4 as Leprechaun and Gulivers Travels as Gildrig
1997 Prince Valiant as Petchet
1998 A very Unlucky Leprechaun as Lucky the Leprechaun
1999 Star Wars Episode 1 as Wald