Actors - Ian McDiarmid

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	Actors - Ian McDiarmid

Ian McDiarmid (born August 11, 1944) is a Scottish actor born in Carnoustie in Angus. He was educated at St Andrews University and the Royal Scottish Academy in Glasgow.

Work in Star Wars

Ian McDiarmid is mostly a stage actor, but after a bit part in the film Dragonslayer
he was cast by George Lucas in the key role in Star Wars as Palpatine (a.k.a Darth Sidious), the principal villain. Palpatine is a cunning politician who eventually becomes ruler of the Galactic Empire. First playing the Emperor in Return of the Jedi, and then as a younger Senator and Chancellor Palpatine in Episodes I-III, he is one of the few actors who has depicted the same character in both of the Star Wars trilogies (as well as playing a younger version of the character as an older actor).

In the 2004 re-release of The Empire Strikes Back, a brief scene between Darth Vader and a hologram of Emperor Palpatine was updated to have him depicted by McDiarmid (the Emperor was originally voiced by Clive Revill for that scene and the face on the projector was that of a woman wearing prosthetic makeup). With this addition to The Empire Strikes Back, McDiarmid has now appeared in at least one version of every film in which Palpatine appears.

He was a relatively unknown charismatic stage actor in his thirties when he was cast as the most powerful being in the Star Wars universe. He had previously achieved little recognition for this role, until 1999 when he was called back to reprise the role in the prequels. While other non-human roles, such as Yoda, R2-D2, C-3PO, and eventually Chewbacca, were all played by their original actors, all the other human roles were recast with younger actors. (A partial exception to this is James Earl Jones reprising his role as the voice of Darth Vader at the end of Episode III - see the Darth Vader article for more details). McDiarmid has the distinction of being the only actor to reprise his role of a human character, an opportunity that he attributes to having been so much younger than his character the first time he played the part. (In 1982 he was just 37 when he filmed his scenes in Return of the Jedi.) The prequels had him play two faces to his character. He re-created the character from Return of the Jedi when playing Darth Sidious, but created a different, more attractive, pleasant, and seductive character in playing Palpatine. While he had received prior recognition from fans, he received widespread attention and critical praise for this expanded role in the prequels.

Theatrical Work

McDiarmid is renowned for his work in British theatre, having won plaudits as an actor and director from a wide variety of sources. From 1990 until 2001, he and Jonathan Kent served as the artistic directors of the Almeida Theatre, located in the Islington district of London. Their tenure was marked by a string of highly successful performances involving 'big name' actors usually seen in films such as Kevin Spacey and Joseph Fiennes.

One theatrical performance of note is his portrayal of the lead character Harry Hackamore in Sam Shepard's play Seduced. By McDiarmid's own description, Hackamore was a Howard Hughes-type character. To play the part, he was made-up in prosthetics, including a false beard and long fingernails, to resemble Hughes. McDiarmid was only 37 at the time, and this convinced George Lucas and Richard Marquand that he could convincingly play a much older character in extreme cinematic close-up, which helped him land the role of Palpatine.

Filmography

Theatrical movies

TV movies

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