Anthony Daniels Biography

Anthony Daniels (born 21 February 1946) is an English actor and mime artist. He is best known for playing C-3PO in the Star Wars film series. He is the only actor to have appeared in all of the major films in the series, as well as its many spin-offs (TV shows, video games, etc.).

Daniels was the voice of Legolas in the Ralph Bakshi animated adaptation of The Lord of the Rings (1978). He has appeared intermittently on British television in various dramas, including playing a pathologist in Prime Suspect starring Helen Mirren. Daniels is currently an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center.

Early life

Daniels was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, the son of a plastics company executive. He was educated at Giggleswick School and studied law for two years at university, then dropped out to participate in amateur dramatics and attend Rose Bruford College. After leaving school in 1974, Daniels worked on BBC Radio and for the National Theatre of Great Britain at The Young Vic. Whilst working in the theatre, he was invited to meet director George Lucas who was casting for Star Wars. Daniels at first turned down the interview but was persuaded by his agent to meet Lucas.

Never a science fiction fan, Daniels has said that before his role in Star Wars the only science fiction film he had ever seen in a theatre was 2001: A Space Odyssey in 1968; he was so displeased with the film that he walked out after 10 minutes and demanded his money back. However, in a 2011 interview he said that he had watched it for longer than 10 minutes, and having since watched it in full, now regards it as a masterpiece. In the same interview, he said he enjoyed post-apocalyptic films such as Mad Max.

He was a member of the BBC's Radio Drama Company and speaks fluent French.

Career

Star Wars

Daniels has played C-3PO in all of the Star Wars feature films from the original installment in the series, as both the body and voice of the golden droid. Kenny Baker, who played R2-D2 in the series until his death in 2016, revealed that he and Daniels did not get along.

In Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, he wore a blue Spandex costume so that during editing of the movie his body could be turned into many different wires and circuits. Daniels has reprised the role for various promotional work such as hosting The Making of Star Wars, Star Wars Connections and The Science of Star Wars; for appearances on The Muppet Show, Sesame Street and an anti-smoking public service announcement; the Star Wars Holiday Special; in advertising for Star Wars licensed products such as Kenner toys; and even a breakfast cereal based on the character.

Daniels voiced C-3PO in the Star Wars radio serial based on the original trilogy. He is the only cast member of the original Star Wars trilogy to voice his character in all three parts of NPR's dramatisations of the trilogy. He voiced C-3PO for five animated series: Droids, Star Wars: Clone Wars, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, and Star Wars Forces of Destiny. Other C-3PO voicework by Daniels includes: the Christmas-themed Christmas in the Stars album; the multiple Walt Disney theme park attractions, Star Tours and Star Tours: The Adventures Continue; the fan film/show Raiders of the Lost Jedi Temple of Doom: A Fan Film of Epic Proportions and the Star Tours shutdown ceremony as a part of the Disney's Hollywood Studios' "Last Tour to Endor" event at Star Wars Celebration V in Orlando, Florida. He also provided the narration and all character voices for the audio books Dark Force Rising and The Last Command.

Daniels contributed the foreword to the collected scripts of the Return of the Jedi radio drama, as their author Brian Daley died just as the episodes were being recorded. Daniels' other Star Wars-related writings include the Wonder Column for Star Wars Insider magazine and a comic book adventure for C-3PO and R2-D2 entitled The Protocol Offensive, published by Dark Horse Comics.

Daniels controlled the puppet for 2002's Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones, but all these scenes were cut, with the droid's first appearance in the film being Daniels in costume. In this film and 2005's Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, he also performed the vocal tracks for scenes that featured a computer generated C-3PO. Daniels is the only actor to act in the original eight films, the 2008 Clone Wars film, and the related television series.

Daniels hosted the Star Wars: In Concert North American tour.

Daniels also makes cameo appearances as a humanoid in two scenes of the feature films. His character, Lieutenant Dannl Faytonni, is named as a tribute to his own name, albeit in modified form. The character appears in the Outlander nightclub scene early in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones as a man in blue uniform who can be seen in a cutaway reaction shot after Obi-Wan disarms the bounty hunter Zam Wesell. Faytonni can also be seen at the Galaxies Opera House in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith.

Daniels reprised his role as C-3PO in The Lego Movie when his character made a cameo appearance along with other crew members of the Millennium Falcon.

Daniels reprised his role as C-3PO in the seventh Star Wars film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which began filming in May 2014 and was released in December 2015. J.J. Abrams, the director for The Force Awakens, told Daniels that he was only going to be the voice of C-3PO in the film. However, Abrams changed his mind and decided Daniels would wear the suit in the film as well. Abrams made a new C-3PO suit for Daniels to wear during filming using 3D printing that allows Daniels a great deal more mobility and comfort than the original suit. Daniels also appeared as C-3PO in 2017's Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and will appear in Star Wars: Episode IX, to be released in December 2019.

Daniels appears in a cameo as C-3PO in 2016's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. It is the first stand-alone film in the Star Wars Anthology series. He also makes an appearance as Tak in the second anthology film, Solo: A Star Wars Story.

In March 2017, All Nippon Airways introduced a Boeing 777 modeled after C-3PO into service. Daniels attended the aircraft's unveiling.

Other acting roles

Daniels was the voice of Legolas in the Ralph Bakshi animated adaptation of The Lord of the Rings (1978). He has appeared intermittently on British television in various dramas, notably in a recurring role in Prime Suspect starring Helen Mirren. He also played the priest in the British spoof horror film I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle (1990).

Daniels has appeared at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida, for the Star Wars Weekends as he gave his "inside the saga" story.

Other work

Daniels is an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1977	Star Wars	C-3PO
1978	The Lord of the Rings	Legolas Greenleaf
1980	The Empire Strikes Back	C-3PO
1982	Return of the Ewok		Video short, unreleased
1983	Return of the Jedi
1987	Star Tours		Uncredited
1990	I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle	Priest
1999	Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace	C-3PO
2002	Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones	C-3PO & Dannl Faytonni
2005	Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
2008	Star Wars: The Clone Wars	C-3PO	Voice
2011	Star Tours: The Adventure Continues		Short, voice
2014	The Lego Movie		Voice
2015	Star Wars: The Force Awakens
2016	Rogue One: A Star Wars Story		Cameo appearance
2017	Star Wars: The Last Jedi
2018	Solo: A Star Wars Story	Tak
2019	Star Wars: Episode IX	C-3PO	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1978	Star Wars Holiday Special	C-3PO	TV Special
1979	Turning Year Tales	John	Episode: Dear Harriet
1980	The Muppet Show	C-3PO	Season 4, Episode 17: The Stars of Star Wars
	Sesame Street		4 episodes
1984	The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady	Kenneth	7 episodes
1985	Star Wars: Droids	C-3PO	13 episodes, voice
1986	The Great Heep		TV Movie
1987	Three Up Two Down	Rupert Fairfax	Episode: Mirror Mirror on the Wall
1988-89	Square Deal	Julian	3 episodes
1990	Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color	C-3PO	Episode: Disneyland's 35th Anniversary Celebration, voice
1995	Prime Suspect	Pathologist	Inner Circles and The Lost Child, TV movies
	The Famous Five	Professor Dobson	Episode: Five on a Secret Trail
1997	Star Wars: Droids - The Pirates and the Prince	C-3PO	Video, voice
2001	Urban Gothic	Mr Tidyman	Episode: Serotonin Wild
2002	Star Wars: Connections	C-3PO	TV Short
2004	Holby City	Colonel Donald Humphries	Episode: In the Line of Fire
	Ghosts of Albion Embers	Lord Nelson	TV movie, voice
2004-05	Star Wars: Clone Wars	C-3PO	4 episodes, voice
2006	Lilo and Stitch: The Series		Episode 65, Link
2008-11	Star Wars: The Clone Wars		11 episodes, voice
2010	Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III		TV movie, voice
2011	Lego Star Wars: The Padawan Menace		TV movie, voice
2012	Lego Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out		TV movie, voice
2012-13	Dirigible Days	Narrator	Executive producer, 5 episodes
2013-14	Lego Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles	C-3PO	6 episodes, voice
2014	Star Wars Rebels		Episode: Droids in Distress, voice
2015	Lego Star Wars: Droid Tales		5 episodes, voice
2017	Star Wars Forces of Destiny		Episode: Beasts of Echo Base, voice

Documentaries

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1977	The Making of Star Wars	C-3PO, host	TV movie documentary
1978	50th Academy Awards	C-3PO (presenter)	TV special
1983	Classic Creatures: Return of the Jedi	C-3PO/himself	TV movie documentary
	From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga
2004	Empire of Dreams		Video documentary
2005	Science of Star Wars		TV documentary miniseries

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Monopoly Star Wars	C-3PO	Writer, voice
2008	Star Wars: The Clone Wars		Voice
2009	Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - Ultimate Sith Edition
2015	Disney Infinity 3.0
2015	Star Wars Battlefront
2016	Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens