Find out how your favorite Star Wars Characters Got Discovered!
By Wyatt Elling
George Lucas' Star Wars movies are some of the most popular films in history. The six movies spanned thirty years and featured huge casts.
Take a look at how four actors from the Star Wars trilogies got discovered and became huge stars.
Harrison Ford: Harrison Ford played the role of daring smuggler Han Solo. He was born to two former radio actors in Illinois. Ford was not popular in high school, and was bullied often and even voted "least likely to succeed." He took a drama class in college and then dropped out of school to pursue acting in Hollywood. He enrolled in a studio "New Talent" program where he played featured extras and bit roles for $150 a week. He became frustrated with the quality of the work being offered him, and he turned down the only major role he was offered, Mike "Meathead" Stivic on All in Family.
To make ends meet, Ford trained himself to be a professional carpenter, and also worked as a stagehand for The Doors. George Lucas, who was just starting out, hired Ford to build cabinets in his home. He liked Ford, and gave him a key supporting role in American Graffiti. Based on this acquaintance, he hired Ford to work on sets for Star Wars. While they were casting Lucas had Ford read lines for the character of Han Solo while screen testing other actors. Stephen Spielberg liked Ford's reading so much that he convinced Lucas to cast the carpenter as Han Solo. Today, Harrison Ford is the third biggest movie star in the world based on total box office grosses.
Harrison Ford used his day job and technical skill as a carpenter to make connections and get roles.
Natalie Portman: Natalie Portman played the down-to-Naboo Queen Amidala, the mother of Luke Skywalker. She was born in Israel to a homemaker and a fertility doctor, and her real name is Natalie Hershlag. When she was three years old her parents moved to the United States and eventually settled in Syosset, New York. She trained as a dancer when she was young, and dreamed of becoming a Broadway star.
When she was thirteen years old a talent agent for Revlon noticed her in a pizza parlor, and offered her a chance to model for the company. She declined this offer, but asked if the agent could put her in touch with acting talent scouts. The young Portman used this opportunity to launch her career as a movie star, and in 1994 landed an audition for the female lead in Luc Besson's cult-classic The Professional. She was turned down initially, but convinced them to let her keep auditioning, and eventually they gave her the role. She continued to attend public school, spent her summers at acting camps, and took small film roles as they came along. George Lucas had noticed her work, and invited her to audition for the role of the handmaiden Padme, who turned out to be Queen Amidala. She landed the role, and starred in one of the highest grossing films in history.
Natalie Portman was discovered by chance but used her ambition to break into the film industry at a very young age.
Jimmy Smits: Jimmy Smits played Bail Organa, the leader of Alderaan and father of Princess Leia. He was born to a working-class Catholic family in Brooklyn, New York. His mother worked full time as a nurse, and his father, a Surinamese immigrant, managed a silk-screening factory. Smits spent part of his time in Puerto Rico, where his mother came from, and identifies deeply as a Puerto Rican.
Smits attended Brooklyn College and later received an MFA from Cornell University. The first role that exposed him to a national audience was as Don Johnson's first partner on Miami Vice. His character was killed in a shoot out in the premiere, but the role raised Smits' profile enough to get cast on the popular 80's show L.A. Law. He reached a younger audience when he appeared the Conky Repairman on Pee-wee's Playhouse. He proved to be one of the most popular recurring characters on the show, and even though the program was wacky and aimed toward children, it helped make him a star. He continued to act on TV shows throughout the 90s, like NYPD Blue and eventually made a huge leap to the big screen when George Lucas cast him in the blockbuster Star Wars prequel trilogy.
Keira Knightley: But wait, Keira Knightley wasn't in Star Wars, was she? Before Keira starred in another epic trilogy, The Pirates of the Caribbean, she made her film debut as Queen Amidala's decoy Sabe in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.
Keira started out as a child actress in the U.K., appearing in various made-for-television productions. She made her big break-through when George Lucas cast her in an unrecognizable role in the first Star Wars prequel. She was cast based on her strong physical resemblance to Natalie Portman. The plot of the movie necessitated that in full Queen make-up Natalie Portman and Keira Knightley look virtually identical. It worked, and on the set Portman and Knightley's mothers had a very hard time telling them apart! Though most people weren't even aware she was in Star Wars, the huge profile of the movie was enough to launch Keira's career as a movie star.
Keira Knightley used her background as a TV actor and body-doubling status with Natalie Portman to become one of the biggest actresses in Hollywood.
Whether they were Israeli child actress, a body-double, a carpenter, or an 80s TV star, there was room in the Star Wars movies to make the above actors part of movie history.
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