WARWICK DAVIS’ (Nikabrik, the Black Dwarf) roles have taken the veteran actor

WARWICK DAVIS’ (Nikabrik, the Black Dwarf) roles have taken the veteran actor from his roots in Surrey, England, to galaxies far, far away, to the magical world of J.K. Rowling’s Hogwarts, and to C.S. Lewis’ fantastical land of Narnia in a career spanning over two decades.

Warwick began his career purely by chance as a boy in 1981. His grandmother heard a radio announcement calling for people under four feet tall to appear in the new “Star Wars” film, “Return of the Jedi.” Originally cast as a background player, Warwick’s gestures were so characteristic of George Lucas’s vision of an Ewok that he was recast as Wicket, who became one of the film’s lead creature characters. After the huge success of the third “Star Wars” epic, Lucas made two Ewok movies for ABC television, “The Ewok Adventure” and “Ewoks: Battle for Endor,” with Warwick reprising his role as Wicket in both projects.

Two years later, the 3’ 6” talent was called to Elstree Studios in London for a meeting with producer George Lucas and director Ron Howard about a new project called “Willow,” with the title role written specifically with the actor in mind. The project, in which he co-starred alongside Val Kilmer, allowed Warwick to showcase his acting talent beyond the portrayal of strange creatures hidden behind special makeup, earning him a Saturn Award nomination from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror.

Following that big screen success, the teenage Warwick was immediately back in front of the camera, this time for the small screen, in yet another fantasy epic. He was cast in two series for the BBC -- playing the swashbuckling mouse, Reepicheep, in the Narnian adventure “Prince Caspian and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” then returning to C.S. Lewis’ wondrous world as Glimfeather the Owl in “The Silver Chair.” He next followed with his first villainous role in the cult horror classic, “Leprechaun,” whose success spawned no less than five sequels over the years, with Warwick returning to the title role in each.

In 1997, he returned to filmmaker Lucas’ famous galaxy far, far away in “Star Wars - Episode 1: The Phantom Menace,” in which he essayed three roles in the film. In addition to the characters of Wald and Weazel, he also played the famous Jedi Master, Yoda, for scenes where the character was required to walk.

In 2001, the literary phenomenon, Harry Potter, became a cinematic one, with Warwick playing two characters (Professor Flitwick and the Goblin Bank Teller) in “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” for director Chris Columbus. He reprised the role of Flitwick in the next four sequels, “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” (again for Columbus), “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” and the sixth in the series, “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.”

The career next launched him back into space, this time hitching a ride as Marvin the Paranoid Android in “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” the big screen adaptation of Douglas Adams’ beloved novel. He also recently played the supporting role of Oberon, the jazz club m.c. who introduces singer Ray Charles to the performing world in Taylor Hackford’s Oscar-winning “Ray.”

His other credits over the years include “Labyrinth” (alongside David Bowie), the NBC telefilm “Gulliver’s Travels (co-starring opposite Ted Danson), “Prince Valiant,” “A Very Unlucky Leprechaun,” “The New Adventures of Pinocchio,” “The White Pony,” the groundbreaking NBC miniseries “The 10th Kingdom,” the BBC sitcom “The Fitz,” the ABC telefilm “Snow White,” the gangster caper “Al’s Lads,” and two BBC productions, “Dr. Terrible’s House of Horrible” and “Murder Rooms: The Kingdom of Bones.” He recently completed a role in “Small Town Folk,” played himself in an episode of Ricky Gervais’ wicked industry satire, “Extras,” and will next write, produce and star in the action film, “Agent One-Half.”

As well as the many roles on the big and small screen, Warwick has trodden the boards of theaters throughout the United Kingdom. In addition to numerous appearances in “Snow White,” he has appeared as Smee in “Peter Pan” and as the Genie in “Aladdin.”