Anthony Daniels was born in Salisbury, England
on the 21st of February, 1946.

From his earliest memory he had wanted to be a professional actor. But England in the 1950's and 60's was not a land where acting was considered a safe profession. Parental influence guided him to a real career - the law.

Two years of study proved Anthony didn't want to be a lawyer. He abandoned that career in favour of his interest in the hospitality industry, taking himself to management school. Finding the reality less than fulfilling, he sought satisfaction with an amateur dramatic society. Eventfully one of its members, a teacher, suggested that he should do what he really wanted - to be an actor. So he took a small bequest and turned it into his ticket to acting school for the next three years. There, Anthony was lucky to have particularly good teachers in the mime and radio departments, two fields of art that would stand him in good stead in the future.

Leaving college in 1974, Anthony won the prestigious Carlton Hobbs BBC Radio Award, which gave him a place in the BBC Drama Repertory Company. After hundreds of productions for the BBC, playing anything from a prince to a parrot, he finally left to go into theatre.

Curiously, his first role was as a 65-year-old. But his next part as a teenager in Forget-me-not Lane brought him an offer to join the National Theatre of Great Britain at The Young Vic. He toured abroad with them as well as acting in their London home in many popular productions. It was whilst playing in Stoppard's Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, that he got the call to meet George Lucas about a science fiction movie being filmed in England.

Anthony was one of hundreds invited to meet the director. Given the difficulties of the proposed costume, the actor would need considerable abilities to create a character through, and in spite of it. Lucas was interested in Anthony's acting and mime skills. Anthony on the other hand wasn't interested at all. Having once demanded his money back on seeing 2001 - A Space Odyssey, he had never been attracted by the world of sci-fi. He refused the interview, not wishing to waste Lucas's time.

Coerced by his agent, Anthony did meet the director. But it was a conceptual painting by Ralph McQuarrie that actually gained his interest. He found the script incomprehensible but liked the golden robot and so was thrilled to be given the role. The next day he was covered in plaster to make a mold of his body, the first step in creating the now globally recognised character. Six months later the costume was almost ready and filming began.

Since Lucas was overwhelmed with all the problems of the shoot, Anthony gave his performance without comment from the director. Sir Alec Guinness was the one who gave him support and encouragement throughout. Later, Lucas would spend months trying to replace Anthony's tones with the voices of various Hollywood actors. Eventually he decided nothing fitted the original like the original and generously asked Anthony to rerecord his own character voice.

The success of the original Star Wars originally eluded Anthony, as the producers decided to suppress the human input of the mechanical man. They maintained that C-3PO was a real robot, believing it would spoil the character's credibility if it were known to be a man in a suit. This, and the physical problems of wearing such an uncomfortable and restrictive suit made Anthony reluctant to participate further.

But adjustments were made so he happily filmed The Empire Strikes Back and The Return of the Jedi. His participation in The Phantom Menace was as an off-camera voice. Finding this an unsatisfying method of characterisation, he took over the arduous puppetry of the 'naked' C-3PO for Attack Of The Clones, once again providing live action and voice. Fully gold and shining in Episode III, The Revenge of the Sith, Anthony is the only actor to feature in all six Star Wars films.

Anthony has been involved in many of the spin-offs. Amongst other events, as the character he performed in the three radio dramatisations, tap-danced on The Muppet Show, promoted measles and polio vaccines, wrote and produced anti-smoking commercials, danced with Donny and Marie Osmond, took part in the Oscar Ceremonies, befriended Big Bird on Sesame Street, voiced the animated figure in Disney's Star Tours ride, became a breakfast cereal - Kellogg's C-3POs, conducted the London Symphony and the Boston Pops Orchestra and had his own cartoon series, Droids.

Anthony has written extensively about his experiences especially in his 'New Improved Wonder Column' (See under Journalism on this site) in the original Star Wars Insider, He produced his first comic book for Dark Horse, The Protocol Offensive. His writing skills were harnessed by Hasbro Interactive for their Monopoly Star Wars CD ROM.

Although the Star Wars saga has formed a major part of Anthony's career, he has interspersed those movies with a variety of television and stage appearances. These range from situation comedies such as Square Deal and Three Up Two Down to more serious dramas such as Prime Suspect and Priestly's Dangerous Corner.

Anthony also works as a presenter/producer of trade events and conferences and a surprising result of his being locked in a gold suit on set, surrounded by effect technicians, was his developing interest in special effects. He has worked as a producer/creative designer on The Westminster Experience, The Guinness Taste Sensation, Singapore's Volcanoland. Bahrain's Magic Island, Dubai's Encounter Zone and The London Dungeon.

Anthony has been proud to present the Art of Star Wars Exhibition in its various locations around the world. Now he is excited to host the travelling exhibit Star Wars - Where Science Meets Imagination as well as the symphonic events, Star Wars - The Concert. He is currently working on the animated series Clone Wars.

Anthony is a visiting scholar at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh and lives in London, England.