These Star Wars Actors Are Gorgeous In Real Life
We can get deep into which characters are important to the Star Wars canon. It's a world where a bounty hunter that gets 15 seconds of screen time can become a cult favorite so popular she gets her own comic books. The truth is, the hallmark of Star Wars has always been its revolving cast of alien species — from the adorable Ewoks to the absolutely grotesque Jabba the Hutt. There's the lizard-like bounty hunters and the endless rows of armored Stormtroopers (R.I.P. all we lost in the destruction of the Death Star). All those creatures might exist in a galaxy far, far away, but in this galaxy, the actors behind the masks are actually pretty good looking and wildly talented (and not cold-blooded killers — as far as we know).
From Ahmed Best, who had to come to terms with portraying Star Wars' most obnoxious character, to the 30-something Oscar winner who had to transform herself into a wrinkled, thousand-year-old pirate, these Star Wars actors are actually gorgeous in real life. May the force be with their skincare regime.
Jeremy Bulloch as Boba Fett
There's no denying Jeremy Bulloch was a mighty fine specimen in his role as the original Boba Fett. Though Fett's face was never revealed, a fierce bounty hunter just sort of has that irresistible bad boy vibe. But if it's too hard to get past the mask, check out his rugged scruff as Edward of Wickham in the '80s Robin Hood TV series. Bulloch's also a former Bond boy, having played an HMS Ranger Crewman in The Spy Who Loved Me and Smithers in Octopussy. Does James Bond hang around anyone who isn't really, really good looking? How many extra points does he score for having an English accent?
Boba Fett became a fan-favorite after unjustly meeting his demise in a Sarlacc Pit. Though die-hards have pretty much refused to put the character to rest, Bulloch hung up the helmet (he made appearances at fan events for decades) in 2018.
"In 1979 I was called onto the set of Empire Strikes Back to play Boba Fett, and since that day it has changed the entire direction of my life in such a wonderful way," he wrote in a 2018 website update. "It has been a privilege to have had the opportunity to inspire so many generations of Star Wars fans. I have had over 20 years of travelling with my wife Maureen to some amazing countries and have met so many wonderful fans. Thank you all so much, and we will miss you all."
Ahmed Best as Jar Jar Binks
Is there any Star Wars character more hated than Jar Jar Binks? According to Dr. John Paul Garrison, who spoke to Outer Places, that pure, unadulterated hatred all boils down to science. Mainly, we can't stand him because his "angular head, craggy eyes, and jagged ears are naturally gross" to humans, his voice is annoying as heck, and — the biggest point — longtime fans resent "the cartoonish tone" injected into the series with the whimsical character. He was, quite literally, inspired by Goofy, which is a sin so unforgivable we aren't even consoled by the fact that he might actually be a whip-smart Sith Lord.
Ahmed Best (who thankfully looks nothing like Jar Jar in real life) got a lot of hate for playing Star Wars' most-detested character. According to the Independent, 1999's Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace was his first major film role, and by all accounts, it should have been a massive step forward for his career. Instead, it made him consider taking his own life.
"20 years next year I faced a media backlash that still affects my career today," he captioned a 2018 Twitter post with a photo of him and his son looking out at a stretch of water. "This was the place I almost ended my life. It's still hard to talk about. I survived and now this little guy is my gift for survival."
Ray Park as Darth Maul
There are few Star Wars characters as utterly terrifying as Darth Maul. The face paint, the horns, and the scathing red and yellow eyes all really lend themselves to a cold-blooded killer. It also helps that British actor Ray Park, who first took on the iconic character in Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, was a martial arts master. Ironically, it was Park, who looks a lot friendlier than his Star Wars counterpart, who invented a death so gruesome during Darth Maul's epic fight with Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Won Kenobi that George Lucas gave it a cold, hard veto. Jinn deserved better!
"In the fight with Liam [Neeson, who played Qui-Gon Jinn] I wanted to use my horns to slash his chest before I killed him," Park said during 2016's Star Wars Celebration (via GeekFeed). "It felt natural to do so. But George was like, no that's too violent Ray."
And cutting off someone's arm with a lightsaber isn't? Okay, George.
Gwendoline Christie as Captain Phasma
Stormtroopers remain rather anonymous with their uniform armor. They're completely indistinguishable from one another and their gender remains a complete mystery, but most of us would guess that there aren't a whole lot of female Stormtroopers storming around. The initial crew of white-armored militants were all clones of Jango Fett, according to Bustle, meaning they were male and completely identical to one another, but The Force Awakens flipped the canon on its head with the introduction of Captain Phasma. Not only is she a woman and a Stormtrooper, but she's a commander for the First Order. This powerful role was given to Game of Thrones actress Gwendoline Christie, who finds her character's beauty just about the least important thing to her role. She's not just a vapid, pretty face (though it's hard to tell with her helmet, anyway).
"We relate to Captain Phasma not through that random group of elements that causes us to look a certain way in flesh," Christie said in an interview with PopSugar. "We relate to her due to her actions and her character, and that I think is truly modern, and that's what really excites me about this film."
Adam Driver as Kylo Ren
Honestly, it's hard to imagine how Adam Driver could be even more attractive in his role as Kylo Ren than he was as Lena Dunham's boytoy in Girls, yet here we are. The dark side has never looked better. The former marine is the kind of guy who could easily be found drinking tea in a Brooklyn cafe or slaying Jedis with his shoddy lightsaber (you've got to give Ren some credit for building the thing himself). He's sensitive and totally bad. Seriously, we'll stop drooling now.
The Force Awakens was obviously a big opportunity for Driver, who was virtually unknown until he was thrust into Dunham's insufferable-yet-somehow-bingeable HBO dramedy. According to The Telegraph, he got the call the day he finished filming Girls' second season, flew out to meet JJ Abrams not long after, and almost declined the part. It took months of negotiations to work out how he'd star on Girls, which filmed in New York, and Star Wars, which filmed in London, at the same time. He ended up working alternate weeks, hopping back and forth across the pond, though he should have probably mastered the art of holograming to make things a bit easier. It just seems like something Ren should know how to do.
Lupita Nyong'o as Maz Kanata
Lupita Nyong'o's transformation into Maz Kanata was something born completely of CGI, but that doesn't mean the Oscar-winning actress didn't painstakingly perform the mysterious pirate's moves. A computer-generated transformation is still a transformation, and an article from Entertainment Weekly shows the actress covered in motion capture dots. In other words, Kanata's expressions are all Nyong'o's no matter how different the pair might actually look. So, how does an woman in her thirties embody the spirit of an extraterrestrial who's lived more than a thousand years? It's all in the eyes.
Nyong'o's facial motion capture was likely an extremely important factor for JJ Abrams. The director admitted to Entertainment Weekly that Kanata's eyes were central to her character. Nyong'o pretty much agreed.
"As an actor for films, your eyes are a lot of the way you communicate anyway," she told Entertainment Weekly. "So it was definitely a gift to have that be the means to her magic as a motion-capture character."
Paul Blake as Greedo
Greedo may have the same job as Boba Fett, but the bug-eyed bounty hunter doesn't look anywhere near as tough. Chalk it up to his mask, which honestly looks like something you could nab from the clearance shelf of a Spirit Halloween. Despite his obvious lack of brawn, the green Rodian still had his moment to shine when he shook up Han Solo at the Mos Eisley Cantina — but shine, he did not. He was shot and killed, but in his afterlife, still managed to get a ton of sympathy from his real-life counterpart Paul Blake, who invented a very sob-filled (albeit seemingly tongue-in-cheek) backstory for the character.
"Greedo was, in fact, a flower arranger who had to be in Jabba's palace on the morning that Jabba required someone to go and get the money from Han Solo for the Millennium Falcon, and it just fell on Greedo that he was there," he said during an interview with Children of the Adams. "So, the whole thing was a misunderstanding, as indeed, life can be, and serendipity plays a heavy toll. Wrong place, wrong time."
Needless to say, the only similarity Blake has to Greedo are his green spectacles.
Laurie Goode as the clumsy Stormtrooper
Though all Stormtroopers are pretty much indistinguishable from each other, one particularly gallant soldier set himself apart from the crowd when he bonked his head in a doorway in 1977's A New Hope — and he didn't even get a nod in the credits. Though the true identity of the clumsy stormtrooper is up for debate, either EastEnders actor Michael Leader, who passed away in 2016, or Doctor Who actor Laurie Goode are thought to be the man behind the mask. The latter has been vocal about his famous blunder, which for some reason, was never cut from the film.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Goode was 31 years old during the production. He landed the part as a fill in for Peter Dukes, who called in sick. Unfortunately, Goode was also feeling under-the-weather that day, which distracted him enough that he smacked his head during the take (in his defense, we're almost certain Stormtrooper helmets don't provide a lot of visibility).
"On the second day of filming, I developed an upset stomach," he told THR. "By mid morning I had paid three to four visits to the loo/bathroom. Having re-dressed myself and returned to the set, I felt the need to rush back to the gents' toilets, but I was placed in [the] shot. On about the fourth take, as I shuffled along, I felt my stomach rumbling, and 'bang,' I hit my head!"
Michonne Bourriague as Aurra Sing
Female bounty hunter Aurra Sing was never a major character in the Star Wars canon. According to Den of Geek, she was first created as a background character for the Boonta Eve Classic podrace scene in 1999's The Phantom Menace. She was dubbed "Babe Fett" and went on to appear in Star Wars comics, books and animated series. She even has her own coffee table book and action figure. Despite having only around 15 seconds of screen time, the infamous character has become a fan favorite. The Star Wars universe doesn't have a lot of females on the Dark Side.
In a 2001 interview with Fanboy Planet, actress Michonne Bourriague admitted she landed the Star Wars gig a week after she launched her modeling career. She had no idea Sing would be so beloved, but George Lucas believed the force was with the bounty hunter from the start.
"Actually, on the day of filming, Lucas told me that she was going to become a very, um, that she'd have a large fanbase and basically be a cult icon," she told Fanboy Planet. "And it was hard for me to fathom because unfortunately I was born after the Star Wars movies came out. So it wasn't really my time, and I wasn't a huge fan ... I never never thought this was going to happen."
Anthony Daniels as C-3PO
Anthony Daniels obviously looks nothing like his beloved Star Wars character C-3PO because he's not made out of a hunk of metal, and he has ownership of both of his arms at any given time. As it turns out, their personalities differ, too. In real life C-3PO and R2-D2 can't stand each other.
According to The Mirror, Daniels had an infamous feud with Kenny Baker, the man beneath the R2-D2 suit. The tabloid claimed any mention of Baker made Daniels "visibly bristle" since their feud began in a "galaxy not so far away" when Baker labeled the actor the "rudest man I've ever met." We knew R2-D2 and C-3PO liked to bicker, but that's next level. Daniels apparently spent years dodging retaliation until Episode VII: The Force Awakens, when he claimed Baker wasn't actually on the set.
"I haven't seen him for years. His name is on the credits as a sort of... I don't know, a good luck charm, a courtesy. He's a talisman," Daniels said (via The Mirror), adding, "He's been saying unpleasant things about me. I just don't comment."
Alan Harris as Bossk
Alan Harris did a few things for the Star Wars universe. Though his most iconic contribution is undeniably being the body cast for Han Solo's carbonite block (they put straws in his nose so he could breathe during the process), he also portrayed Bossk, the lizard-like Trandoshan bounty hunter.
Prior to his work on The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Harris dabbled in modeling. Since it took between six to nine months for male models to get paid, the star picked up some work as an extra to help make ends meet. He ended up transitioning into the world of acting and landed his part through connections he made on Space: 1999. In an interview with the fan-run site Star Wars Interviews, the actor admitted he started as a stand-in for Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) and a Bespin Guard, but "when Anthony Daniels had some days off they just got me to do other things when he wasn't around." Thus, his time as Bossk began.
Needless to say, Harris looks nothing like his famed character, but his expansive career does prove you can become a quasi-Hollywood out of nothing but background work.
Jon Berg as a cantina band alien
The Mos Eisley Cantina is what people in this galaxy would call "lit." The dive bar remains one of Star Wars' grimmest yet happening locales — and that's including the famed Sarlacc Pit and Luke Skywalker's brief visit inside a dead tauntaun. For Obi-Wan Kenobi, it was a "wretched hive of scum and villainy." For J.J. Abrams, it was so iconic that it was worthy of a reimagining 40 years later in The Force Awakens, but when it comes down to it, the allure can at least be partially attributed to the iconic cantina band.
According to Yahoo, George Lucas shot the cantina scene twice (in England and L.A.) and used "two entirely different teams of aliens and make-up artists." One of those aliens was Jon Berg, a member of the so-called creature shop (they created the aliens in the cantina scene) and an integral part of Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes (the famed cantina band). In other words: Berg helped create the very mask he wore. Though Berg's time as a bulbous-headed alien went uncredited, he did go on to do some highly revered special and visual effects work in Ghostbusters, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and The Fly.