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Katie Purvis
| |
| Katie Purvis | |
|---|---|
| Biographical information | |
| Born | |
| Career | |
| Star Wars work | |
| Other work of note |
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone |
Katie Purvis is an actress who played the "Maternal Ewok" in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. She is also the daughter of Star Wars actor Jack Purvis, and is neighbor of and good friends with Maureen Charlton.
Katie Purvis was born in England in 1967. Her father was Jack Purvis, a victim of dwarfism who never reached more than 4'1" of height. Katie shared this feature with her father, being only 3'1" as an adult.
Katie began her career as an actress almost from birth, unknowingly playing a part in TV show Look and Read in 1967. Only eleven years later, on 1978, she acted again in British TV comedy Little and Large Show.
Her first mainstream movie was Terry Gilliam's extravaganza Time Bandits in 1981, where she was a stunt for some of the little great actors. Notice that other Star Wars stars featured in this project, including Katie's own father Jack as well as Kenny Baker (R2-D2), Mike Edmonds (Logray), Marcus Powell (Rycar Ryjerd), Declan Mulholland (Opun Mcgrrrr) and Malcolm Dixon (Jawa).
Katie became a part of the Star Wars saga with her small role in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, where she plays an Ewok mother holding a wokling. Of course, her father Jack and many other actors of his height were present in that scene.
Experienced in "small creature" roles, Katie was called again to act as a Goblin in both Ridley Scott's Legend and Jim Henson's Labyrinth; as usual, acting as "one of the small creatures", she met again with other actors from previous works.
Katie appeared on 1987-1989 TV series Raggy Dolls, about some factory-rejected toys to go to the recycle bin and then suddenly come to life. She was also one of the Newlyns (alongside her father) in acclaimed Willow (1988) and she appeared as a widget in Look-and-Read TV movie Through the Dragon's Eyes in 1989.
There is some important gap in her career from 1989 to 1996, where she reappears in theatre playing Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and she did not play the part of Snow White. More precisely, she played Funny the Dwarf.
Purvis had a chance to work as a stunt again for Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow. She had to stand-in for the son of the midwife during the Headless Horseman (Ray Park) attack on her house. And nobody noticed, so she worked well.
Purvis appeared as a dwarf in both Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) and TV version of Chronicles of Narnia (2004), and we could see her as a cashier in a 2003 episode of Channel 4 TV series Teachers. She also appeared as a contestant on Deal or No Deal in November 2011.
Katie is married and has three children.
