Peter Mayhew portrayed the hairy alien in the original Star Wars trilogy, Star Wars: Episode III-Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Mayhew is scheduled to star in Star Wars: The Last Jedi in December 2017.

George Lucas originally chose actor David Prowse to play Chewbacca. However, Prowse went on to play Darth Vader and Mayhew managed to land the role.

For his performance, Mayhew was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1997 MTV Film Awards. In 2011, he appeared as Chewbacca in a cameo role in popular television series Glee.