4 Talk

Sam Witwer

Sam Witwer

Born	October 20, 1977
Nationality	American
Career
Star Wars work	Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Other work of note	Battlestar Galactica, Smallville, The Mist, Being Human (US)

[Source]

Samuel Stewart Witwer (born October 20,1977) is an actor best known for his voice work of Galen Marek, Darth Vader's secret apprentice in the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed video game and Crashdown in Battlestar Galactica.

1 Biography
2 Behind the scenes
3 Star Wars voice work
4 Notes and references
5 External links
- 5.1 In other languages

BiographyEdit

Early lifeEdit

Known to his friends as "Stew", Witwer grew up in Glenview, Illinois, a small suburb town of Chicago. There he attended Glenbrook South High School and became involved in theater as well as becoming the lead singer or a band called "Love Plumber". After receiving marks that were less than satisfactory, Witwer later attended the Juilliard School for drama stating that it was the only school that accepted him on the fact that they didn't look at his transcripts.

CareerEdit

Witwer has stated that his first on screen credit was for a Chicago Bulls commercial. Witwer's first major role was Lt. Crashdown in science fiction show Battlestar Galactica. He credits his appearance on Dexter for his current success.

It was announced in June 2008 that Witwer had been cast as Davis Bloome (Aka: Doomsday; the character from the Superman comics, best known for being the only villain to have killed Superman), a charming paramedic, on Smallville.^[1] Witwer left the series at the end of the eighth season, since his character was killed off. Although uncredited, he portrayed Major Zod (a clone of the original General Zod) in the last scene of the Season 8 finale episode. The role of Major Zod would be portrayed by British actor Callum Blue for the duration of Season 9.

Star Wars workEdit

While not initially the template for Galen Marek (codenamed Starkiller), the original Marek concept art, produced by Amy Beth Christenson, looked strikingly like Sam Witwer. With the vice president at the time noting the resemblance and recognizing Witwer for Battlestar Galactica, he was contacted to audition.^[2]

Witwer became the complete basis for Galen Marek's voice and appearance in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed video game and the comic as well. His likeness was created through motion capture for the first game, to build the character's appearance and range of facial expressions. For the second game, Witwer's performance was recorded on HD cameras as were all the actors who worked on The Force Unleashed. Ironically, while the game was in production, Witwer only knew his character as "Starkiller;" his birth name was revealed in the novelization.^[3] After Marek was killed in the canonical ending, Witwer returned to play Starkiller, an imperfect clone of Galen Marek, in the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II. For this character, Witwer served in the same capacity as before by providing his voice and likeness to the main character.^[4]

In addition to his role as Starkiller, Witwer also gave his voice to the aberrant clones, imperfect genetic replicas that ended in failure during Darth Vader's secret project to recreate his late apprentice. Witwer's voice and appearance also served as the basis for the Dark Apprentice, due to his status as the only perfect clone of the original Starkiller.^[4]

Before the creation and release of The Force Unleashed II, Witwer returned to the role of Galen Marek in Soulcalibur IV as an unlockable character, in which he was known only as "The Apprentice." He has also expressed an interest in being in the live-action TV series, presumably reprising his role as Galen Marek.^[5]

Witwer also voiced Emperor Palpatine in The Force Unleashed, and, although uncredited, he reprised the role of Palpatine in Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron. Witwer has also voiced the Son, a physical incarnation of the dark side of the Force who appeared in the third season of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series.