Joonas Suotamo


Joonas Viljami Suotamo is a Finnish actor and former professional basketball player. He is best known for his role as Chewbacca in the Star Wars saga, taking over the role from Peter Mayhew, first as a body double, with ', and later as the lead in ', ' and in '.

Early life and education

Suotamo was born in Espoo, Uusimaa, Finland. As a youth, he performed roles as a stage actor. Suotamo attended Pennsylvania State University and played the power forward and centre positions for the Penn State Nittany Lions. With childhood interests in music, arts, and movies he studied film and video at PSU. He was a strong academic performer at Penn State, where he was twice named to the Academic All-Big Ten team, and graduated in 3½ years with a Bachelor of Arts degree in December 2008 in order to fulfill his Finnish conscription service and to pursue a career in film.
He left the army having risen to the rank of second lieutenant.

Basketball career

Club career

Suotamo played seven seasons in Finland's basketball leagues, including four seasons in the top-tier Korisliiga. He has also had a career selling insurance.

National team career

Suotamo played three games for the Finnish national basketball team and 66 games for the junior national teams.

Acting career

Suotamo is mostly known for his role as Chewbacca in the Star Wars franchise, a role in which he started out being a body double for the original Chewbacca actor Peter Mayhew in ', as Mayhew's age and worsening health was making it more difficult for him to fill the role. He went on to entirely replace Mayhew in ' as Chewbacca, with Mayhew as a consultant. He then reprised his role as Chewbacca in ' and '.

Personal life

Suotamo has a son named Aatos who was born c. 2018.

Filmography

Film