Anthony Daniels

**Anthony Daniels** (born February 21, 1946 in Salisbury, England) is an English actor who portrayed the droid C-3PO in the *Star Wars* films. He is the only actor to be credited to appear in all nine *Star Wars* episodic films, as well as *Solo: A Star Wars Story*, *Rogue One: A Star Wars Story*, and the animated feature *Star Wars: The Clone Wars*.

## Biography

During the production of the original *Star Wars* film, Daniels helped George Lucas develop the character, voice, and mannerisms of C-3PO. Aside from playing the fussy droid in all eight movies, Daniels has reprised the role frequently over the past three decades. He's donned the shiny suit for various promotional work, including hosting *The Making of Star Wars*; for appearances on *The Muppet Show* and *Sesame Street*; for *The Star Wars Holiday Special*; for commercials including Kenner toys, an anti-smoking PSA, and even a breakfast cereal based on the character; and for prequel tie-ins such as *Star Wars Connections* and *The Science of Star Wars*. He also voiced C-3PO in a radio drama based on the original trilogy; for the Christmas-themed *Christmas in the Stars* album; for the Disneyland theme-park attraction *Star Tours*; for the animated film *The Lego Movie*; and for four animated series: *Droids*, *Star Wars: Clone Wars*, *The Clone Wars*, and *Star Wars Rebels*. He provided both narration and all character voices for the *Dark Force Rising* and *The Last Command* audio books.

Daniels has a cameo outside of the C-3PO costume in the Outlander nightclub scene early in *Star Wars*: Episode II *Attack of the Clones* as a character named Dannl Faytonni. Faytonni can also be seen at the Galaxies Opera House in *Star Wars*: Episode III *Revenge of the Sith*.

Aside from portraying C-3PO and Dannl Faytonni, Anthony Daniels also played numerous minor characters such as CZ-3 in *A New Hope*. The exact number of such characters Daniels played is unknown.

He was the only cast member of the original trilogy to voice his character in all three episodes of National Public Radio's dramatizations of that trilogy. (While Mark Hamill voiced Luke Skywalker for both *A New Hope* and *The Empire Strikes Back*, and Billy Dee Williams voiced Lando Calrissian for *The Empire Strikes Back*, when the *Return of the Jedi* adaptation was recorded many years later, Hamill and Williams were replaced by Joshua Fardon and Arye Gross, respectively.)

Daniels also 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* writings include *The New 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.

In *The Phantom Menace*, Daniels did the voice work for C-3PO but did not physically appear in the movie, as the character was a puppet instead of a costume—a prototype version of the protocol droid controlled by someone else. He actually controlled the puppet for 2002's *Attack of the Clones*, but all prototype scenes were cut, with the droid's first appearance in the movie being Daniels in costume. In this movie and 2005's *Revenge of the Sith*, he also dubbed the vocal tracks for some scenes that used computer-generated imagery.

Daniels was the host and narrator of Star Wars: In Concert.

Daniels was the voice of Legolas in Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated adaptation of *The Lord of the Rings*. He crops up intermittently on British TV in various dramas, notably in a recurring role in *Prime Suspect*. He also played the priest in the 1990 British spoof horror film *I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle*.

In 1995, he appeared in *Young Indiana Jones and the Attack of the Hawkmen*, a made-for-TV movie produced by Lucasfilm Ltd. and directed by Ben Burtt.