Deep Roy

Gurdeep Roy (born Mohinder Purba; 1 December 1957), known professionally as Deep Roy, is a Kenyan-British actor, puppeteer and stuntman. At 132 centimetres (4 ft 4 in) tall,^[1] he has often been cast as diminutive characters, such as Teeny Weeny in The NeverEnding Story, all the Oompa-Loompas in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Keenser in Star Trek and its sequels, and in television series such as The X-Files, Doctor Who, and Eastbound & Down.

Deep Roy
Roy at the 2024 Brussels Comic Con
Born	Mohinder Purba (1957-12-01) 1 December 1957 (age 67) Nairobi, Kenya Colony
Other names	Gurdeep
Occupations	Actor puppeteer stuntman
Years active	1976–present
Height	132 cm (4 ft 4 in)

Life and career

Roy was born on 1 December 1957^[2] in Nairobi^[3] to Indian parents in a Sikh family. He studied accounting in London before dropping out at 18. He later enrolled in The Slim Wood School of Comedy and got his start in the entertainment arena in England in 1970 as a stand-up comic in local cabaret clubs. In April 1970, Roy opened on the UK stage in Ray Cooney's Miracle Worker at the Palace Theatre, Westcliff-on-Sea. He made his professional screen acting debut in a 1976 episode of The New Avengers, titled "Target!" as a character named Klokoe. He made his film debut later that same year, in The Pink Panther Strikes Again, as the Italian Assassin. Another early role was as Mr. Sin, the "pig-brained Peking Homunculus", a villain with a distinct appetite for homicide, in the Doctor Who serial The Talons of Weng-Chiang. In 1979, Roy played a genetically engineered life form "Decima" in the first season of Blake's 7 episode "The Web", the diminutive chess genius, "The Klute", in the second season of Blake's 7 episode "Gambit" and he voiced the character "Moloch", in the third season of Blake's 7 episode "Moloch". He was a stand-in for the Jedi Master Yoda in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.^{[citation needed]} He is uncredited on the film but can be seen in many behind-the-scenes photos dressed as Yoda for perspective shots filmed towards the end of production.

He has played apes in two movies: Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, and again in the Tim Burton remake of Planet of the Apes (2001) in two roles, one as a young gorilla boy and as Thade's niece. He has worked for Burton in three other films, Big Fish (2003), Corpse Bride (2005), where he supplied General Bonesapart's voice, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (also 2005).^[4] He played all 165 Oompa-Loompas in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.^[5] In referencing his workload during production, director Tim Burton called Roy the "hardest-working man in show biz".^[6] Roy had extensive training for the role in dance, yoga, and some minor instrument playing.

He has performed many other roles in films and on television, including The X-Files, Flash Gordon, Return to Oz (as the Tin Woodman), Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal as a puppeteer extra, The NeverEnding Story as Teeny Weeny, the rider of the "racing snail", Alien from L.A., Howling VI: The Freaks as Mr Toones and Return of the Jedi as Droopy McCool.^{[citation needed]}

He appeared in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) as an Egyptian border guard and in the film Star Trek (also 2009) as Keenser, Scotty's assistant on the ice planet Delta Vega; he reprised the Keenser role in the sequels Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond. In one of his more prominent speaking roles, Roy played Aaron, a violent Mumbai-born Mexican criminal in the second season of the HBO comedy Eastbound & Down. Roy starred as Sandeep Majumdar in the 2012 short film The Ballad of Sandeep.^[7]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1976	The Pink Panther Strikes Again	Italian Assassin
1978	Benji's Very Own Christmas Story	Key Elf	Uncredited
1979	The Muppet Movie	Stunt performer
	Licensed to Love and Kill	Dwarf
	Die Brut des Bösen/Roots of Evil	Van Bullock
1980	Flash Gordon	Fellini
	The Empire Strikes Back	Yoda stand-in[8][9][10] R2-D2 (double)	Uncredited
1982	The Dark Crystal	Additional performer
	Return of the Ewok	Droopy McCool
1983	Mini Gulliver	Mini Gull
	Return of the Jedi	Droopy McCool/puppeteer R2-D2 (body double) Ewok
1984	This Is Spinal Tap	Stunt performer
	Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes	Primate sequences
	The NeverEnding Story	Teeny Weeny	Voice overdubbed
	The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension	Stunt performer
	Lorca and the Outlaws a.k.a. Starship	Grid
1985	Return to Oz	Tin Man (puppeteer)
	Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome	Stunt performer
1986	Weekend Warriors	Little girl	Uncredited
	Poltergeist II: The Other Side	Stunt performer
1987	Going Bananas	Bonzo
1988	Alien from L.A.	Mambino
1989	Rising Storm	Joker Arroyo
	Lethal Woman	Grizabella
1990	Disturbed	Marty
1991	Howling VI: The Freaks	Toones
	Hook	Stunt performer
1992	The Resurrected	Main monster
1993	Freaked	George Ramirez No. 3
	Leprechaun	Stunt double for Warwick Davis
	Josh and S.A.M.	Stunt performer
1994	Dickwad	Little Telephone Bully
	Wes Craven's New Nightmare	Stunt performer
	The Little Rascals	Stunt performer
	The War	Stunt performer
	The Jungle Book	Stunt performer
1995	Sudden Death	Stunt performer
	Under the Hula Moon	Bus driver
1996	Matilda	Stunt performer
1997	Retroactive	Stunt performer
1998	Mafia!	Small hitman	Uncredited
	BASEketball	Stunt performer
	The Adventures of Ragtime	Stunt double for Justin Cooper
2000	Disney's The Kid	Stunt double for Spencer Breslin
	How the Grinch Stole Christmas	Post office clerk
2001	Planet of the Apes	Gorilla kid / Thade's niece
2003	The Haunted Mansion	Hitchhiking ghost
	A Man Apart	Stunt performer
	Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood	Stunt double for Warwick Davis
	Big Fish	Mr. Soggybottom
2004	Surviving Eden	Indian Mo
	Van Helsing	Stunt performer
2005	Charlie and the Chocolate Factory	Oompa-Loompas	Singing voice provided by Danny Elfman; narrator's voice provided by Geoffrey Holder
	Corpse Bride	General Bonesapart	Voice
2009	Star Trek	Keenser
	The Unborn	Stunt performer	Doubled[further explanation needed]Atticus Shaffer
	Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen	Egyptian guard
2012	Zambezia	Mushana	Voice
	The Ballad of Sandeep	Sandeep Majumdar
2013	Paranormal Movie	Demon
	Star Trek Into Darkness	Keenser
2014	Mantervention	Massage parlor owner
2016	Star Trek Beyond	Keenser
2017	God Came 'Round	Sandeep	Short film/music video[11]
2019	Deep Into Love	Dr. Love	Short film

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1976	The New Avengers	Klokoe	Episode: Target!
1977, 1986	Doctor Who	Mr. Sin/Posicarian delegate (uncredited)	The Talons of Weng-Chiang/Mindwarp
1978–1980	Blake's 7	Decima/The Klute/Moloch/Link	4 episodes
1989	Desperado: The Outlaw Wars		Uncredited
1996	Evil Has a Face	Stunt performer	TV movie
2001	The X-Files	Beggar man	Episode: Badlaa
2003–2004	The Jamie Kennedy Experiment	Himself	9 episodes
2010	Eastbound & Down	Aaron	4 episodes
2012	Wolfpack of Reseda	Mr. Jo	Episode: Hungry Like the Wolf

Music videos

Year	Title	Role	Artist
1996	"Grind"	Evil Cherub 1	Alice in Chains
2007	"Calm Down Dearest"		Jamie T
2021	"Atenção"	Oompa-Loompas	Pedro Sampaio and Luísa Sonza

References

1. Abramovitch, Seth (25 August 2016). "Little People, Big Woes in Hollywood: Low Pay, Degrading Jobs and a Tragic Death". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
2. "Famous Birthdays". Minneapolis Star Tribune. 1 December 2017. p. A2; "Today's Birthdays". The Baltimore Sun. 1 December 2014. p. A9.
3. "Roy | Star Trek". StarTrek.com. CBS Television Distribution and CBS Interactive Inc. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
4. Scott, A. O. (15 July 2005). "Film review: Looking for the Candy, Finding a Back Story". The New York Times. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
5. Kung, Michelle. "The sole Oompa-Loompa". people.com. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
6. Colbourne, Scott (15 July 2005). "How'd They Do It? The Oompa-Loompa Factor". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 26 February 2021. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
7. "About the film". The Ballad of Sandeep. Retrieved 31 January 2021.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
8. Newbold, Mark (17 April 2021). "Star Wars 100 Interviews: Walking Yoda Deep Roy". fanthatracks.com. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
9. "The making of Yoda, Part II". www.netdwellers.com. Retrieved 31 January 2021.^{[better source needed]}
10. "Cut Scenes: Dagobah". www.starwarz.com. 25 February 2013. Retrieved 31 January 2021.^{[better source needed]}
11. "GOD CAME 'ROUND Starring Deep Roy, Directed by Derek Frey, song by Professor T & the East Side Shredders". 30 July 2017. Retrieved 31 January 2021.

External links

• Media related to Deep Roy at Wikimedia Commons
• Deep Roy at IMDb