Ian McDiarmid (born August 11, 1944) is a Scottish actor. He is most famous for his role in Star Wars as Palpatine, the cunning politician who eventually becomes ruler of the evil Empire. He is one of the few actors who has depicted the same character in both of the Star Wars trilogies.
In the 2004 re-release of Star Wars Episode V: 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 Reville for that scene.) With this addition to The Empire Strikes Back, Palpatine is now exclusively depicted by McDiarmid in the films.
Ian McDiarmid was born in Carnoustie, Tayside, Scotland. He was an unknown charismatic stage actor in his thirties when he was cast as the most powerful being in the Star Wars universe. He has achieved little recognition for his role, which may have a lot do with the mysterious absence of his character from Episode VI?s advertising, except from Star Wars fans with whom he has a kind of cult following. While fans complained about the addition of Hayden Christensen to Return of the Jedi, hardly a word was said about McDiarmid being
