00:00I grew up in Los Angeles, so I knew it was a viable career, at least, you know, you had
00:04a chance.
00:07But Return of the Jedi was my first movie.
00:10I started it, well, I got the job at 18 and my birthday happened.
00:13So I met Joe Johnston, who was the production designer of kind of the ILM and designed a lot of
00:19spaceships,
00:20storyboarded much of A New Hope and Empire.
00:23So I met him at around 14, 15, and then just on my own kept making movies and models and
00:28creatures
00:29because I knew that's what I wanted to do.
00:30So when they started on Jedi, I called him and said, hey, you know, you're working.
00:33I just graduated high school.
00:35I'd been to a university for one quarter.
00:38And I said, hey, I know you're starting on this new movie.
00:40It didn't surprise me that they were going to do an Ewok movie because, you know, being on set and
00:46seeing kids around the Ewoks,
00:47they were very drawn to them.
00:49And it was clear that the kids really liked that.
00:51And they wanted to reach out and do something for television that would appeal to children.
00:56So it seemed natural to me.
00:57I really didn't question it.
00:59To me, it was a job.
01:00It was work.
01:01It was a Star Wars project.
01:03And to be asked by Joe to be involved in this, of course, I'm going to say yes.
01:07I remember Billy Barty told me, don't get into acting.
01:09He was an old time Valvillian little person who started Little People of America.
01:14And he goes back to the 1930s.
01:18It was always my mother's dream for her kids to be into acting.
01:21My father did not let me get into acting right away because he thought I was probably not serious about
01:26it.
01:26But my sister, at the time, because we live in Los Angeles, my sister went to a high school with
01:32several actors and actresses.
01:34And she had a friend who was a very famous actress.
01:38And she made a phone call and said, hey, my brother wants to be an actor.
01:40He was in a Jack in the Box commercial.
01:41He said, sure, have your brother come down.
01:43And they signed me.
Comments