May 19, 1944 in Barnes, London, England) is an English actor, best known for playing the Wookiee Chewbacca in the Star Wars movies. He is 7'3" (2.21 metres) tall.

Before getting into acting, Mayhew worked as an orderly at London's King's College Hospital. He received his first acting job in 1977 when the producers of the movie Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger discovered Mayhew from a photograph in a newspaper article about men with large feet, and they cast him in the role of the minotaur.

When casting roles for his first Star Wars film, producer George Lucas needed a tall actor who could fit the role for the beastly Chewbacca. He originally had in mind bodybuilder David Prowse, but Prowse was instead cast to play the role of Darth Vader. This led Lucas on a search which turned up Mayhew, who says that all he had to do to be cast in the role of Chewbacca was stand up. Mayhew has played the part of Chewbacca in four Star Wars films.

Mayhew was honoured when Chewbacca was given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the MTV Movie Awards 1997.

Mayhew now lives in Granbury, Texas, and is the owner of his own business. He took the oath to become a naturalized citizen of the United States on October 17, 2005 at a ceremony in Arlington, Texas. [1] In an interview with the Fort Worth Star Telegram he jokingly noted that he didn't get a medal at this ceremony either; a reference to the Star Wars scene in which Luke and Han get medals but the Wookiee gets none.

Mayhew also voiced the character Susha in Dragonball GT: A Hero's Legacy, thus becoming the only English actor in the Dragonball Universe. His next project is James Kerwin's scifi noir film, Yesterday Was a Lie.

Credit: en.wikipedia.org