Warwick Davis

Warwick Davis is a hell of a baker. This is not information I have about a lot of the people we’ve covered over the years, but I do about Warwick Davis, because I saw him on a special episode of The Great British Bake-Off. Sure, they needed to make his work station accessible for him, because he wouldn’t be able to use one without that, but once he could reach the counters and so forth, there rapidly became no doubt that he was going to win. His abilities were better; he just needed a kitchen that fit his specific needs. Obviously there is no lesson here la la la.

Davis has been familiar to fans since he was eleven. His grandmother heard on the radio that they were hiring actors under four feet tall to play Ewoks. He was already a Star Wars fan, so he was extremely excited. Kenny Baker got sick, so Davis—who already stood out—was cast as Wicket. Apparently he based his mannerisms on his dog. Mark Hamill also gave him every Star Wars action figure he didn’t already have, which is just adorable, and he got along with Harrison Ford well enough to name a child after him. It’s ridiculously heartwarming all the way around.

George Lucas and Ron Howard created the role of Willow Ufgood for him. So okay, he was playing the father of two children not all that much younger than he—he was eighteen at the time—but he still got to be an adventure hero, along with Val Kilmer as Madmartigan. He was the title character, the star. He was given a personality and a back story and a family. That’s fairly unusual for a character to be played by an actor who isn’t an abled person, and Willow may be the only character who fits that description for a person with dwarfism.

Since then, Davis started Willow Management, which was initially intended to find work for actors under four feet tall; in 2004, their mission expanded, as it were, to include actors over seven feet tall. The goal was to keep them from being stuck in the same boring roles over and over again. Alas they managed to get a bunch of their clients cast in assorted Harry Potter roles, but I suppose it was better than nothing. It’s hard to blame people who are limited in what roles they’re offered for taking the roles they can get, regardless of all the issues with those roles.

He has health problems related to his genetic condition—he does not have achondroplasia but instead a mutation called spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita—but mostly it’s joint issues. Unfortunately, his late wife, Samantha, had achondroplasia and two of their children inherited both. One died at a few days old and the other was miscarried. They do have two other children together, though Samantha died in 2024. Davis is still working and by all accounts is an incredibly sweet man. Even if a lot of people do still think of him from the Leprechaun franchise.