Memory Alpha
Register
Advertisement
Memory Alpha
Real world article
(written from a Production point of view)

Deep Roy (born 26 January 1949; age 75) is an actor and stuntman who played the role of Keenser in Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, and Star Trek Beyond.

A screenshot of Roy from Star Trek is used for card #52, Engineer Keenser, of the virtual collectible card battle game Star Trek: Rivals.

He is noted for playing Max Rebo Band member Droopy McCool, an Ewok, the stunt R2-D2, and Master Yoda during his walking scenes in addition to his work as stand-in for the character Yoda in the two Star Wars films, The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983) and for his frequent collaborations with director Tim Burton, particularly his portrayal of all 165 Oompa-Loompas in 2005's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. In the special features of Star Trek, he is shown doing the Oompa-Loompa dances between takes.

Personal life[]

Deep Roy was born Mohinder Purba in Nairobi, (then the British colony of) Kenya, to Indian parents in a Sikh family. He stands at 4 ft. 4 in. (132 cm) tall. Roy began his career in entertainment in England as a stand-up comic in local cabaret clubs.

Career[]

Television[]

Roy's first television appearance was the part of Klokoe in The New Avengers episode "Target!" in 1976 followed by the television short film Benji's Very Own Christmas Story (1978) and several appearances in the British science fiction series Blake's 7 (1978-1980).

In 1977, he appeared as Mr. Sin in the Doctor Who serial "The Talons of Weng-Chiang". Roy is among the ranks of actors who have appeared in Star Trek and Doctor Who. Given his role in Return of the Jedi, Roy is the first and, along with Simon Pegg, one of only two actors to appear in Star Trek, Doctor Who, and Star Wars on television or film. (Christopher Neame and W. Morgan Sheppard appeared in Star Trek and Doctor Who on television, and provided voices for Star Wars video games.) Roy returned to the Doctor Who franchise for a role in the 1986 serial The Trial of a Time Lord.

Further television work includes the western Desperado: The Outlaw Wars (1989, with Brad Dourif) and episodes of Night Stand (1996, with Michael Bofshever) and The X-Files in the 2001 episode "Badlaa". The X-Files was executive-produced by John Shiban, and the episode in which Roy appeared also featured Jane Daly and Michael Welch. Between 2003 and 2004, Roy appeared in several episodes of the reality comedy show The Jamie Kennedy Experiment.

In 2010, Roy played the role of Aaron in three episodes of the hit HBO comedy series Eastbound & Down, working with Adam Scott and Marco Rodriguez. He also appeared with Leon Russom in an episode of the web series Wolfpack of Reseda (2012).

Film[]

Roy's first film role was the Italian assassin in the 1976 comedy The Pink Panther Strikes Again, followed by the West German action film Roots of Evil (1979) and Licensed to Love and Kill (1979, with Nick Tate). In Flash Gordon (1980), Roy played Princess Aura's pet, Fellini. He later appeared as Teeny Weeny, the rider of the "racing snail", in The NeverEnding Story (1984). Fellow Star Trek alum Alan Oppenheimer lent his voice to this latter film. Beside these two films, Roy also worked as puppeteer on The Dark Crystal (1982, choreographed by Gates McFadden) and Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984).

Roy's subsequent film credits include Starship (1984), Return to Oz (1985), Weekend Warriors (1986, with Lloyd Bridges, Victor Tayback, Graham Jarvis, Matt McCoy, Tom Villard, Camille Saviola, Brenda Strong, Jeff Allin, Randal Patrick, and Mark L. Taylor), Going Bananas (1987), Alien from L.A. (1988, with Tony Epper), Lethal Woman (1989, with Ed Anders), Rising Storm (1989, with Zach Galligan and John Rhys-Davies), Disturbed (1990, starring Malcolm McDowell and Clint Howard), Howling VI: The Freaks (1991, with Joe Gieb), The Resurrected (1991, with Chris Sarandon), Freaked (1993, with William Sadler, Lee Arenberg, Patti Tippo, Don Stark, and David Bowe), the short comedy Dickwad (1994, with Musetta Vander and Billy Campbell), Under the Hula Moon (1995, with Carel Struycken, Musetta Vander, and William O. Campbell), and Mafia! (1998, with Billy Burke, Lloyd Bridges, Gregory Sierra, Andreas Katsulas, Anthony Crivello, and Frank Welker).

He also played the post office clerk in How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), working with Clint Howard, Landry Allbright, and cinematographer Don Peterman. Roy first worked with Tim Burton in Planet of the Apes (2001), in which Roy played the niece of the villain, General Thade. This film also featured Erick Avari, Cary-Hiroyuki, and David Warner in the cast. Roy's next collaboration with Burton was Big Fish (2003), in which Roy played Mr. Soggybottom. Perhaps Roy's most notable performance is that of the Oompa-Loompas in Burton's 2005 adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He played all 165 Oompa-Loompas in the film, which sometimes required him to repeat the same movements several hundred times. Each individual performance was then digitally inserted into the film. Roy's most recent collaboration with Tim Burton was Corpse Bride (2005), in which he voiced General Bonesapart.

Other film work include The Haunted Mansion (2003, with Wallace Shawn, Rachael Harris, Michael McAdam, and Derek Mears) and Surviving Eden (2004). Roy made a cameo appearance as an Egyptian guard in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009), which was co-written by Star Trek screenwriters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. The film also featured David Bowe, Spencer Garrett, Aaron Lustig, Glenn Morshower, Eric Pierpoint, and the voices of Robert Foxworth, Tony Todd, and Frank Welker. Roy and Star Trek co-star Leonard Nimoy both lent their voices to Zambezia (2012). He also played the lead role in the 2011 short comedy The Ballad of Sandeep.

Prior to his appearance in Star Trek Into Darkness, Roy filmed the short comedy Jewtholic (2012) and Paranormal Movie (2013). In 2014, he appeared in Mantervention.

Stunt work[]

In addition to his acting career, Roy has performed stunts in a number of films. He worked as stunt double for Justin Cooper in the family movie The Adventures of Ragtime (1998, with Mic Rodgers, Dana Hee, Edward Conna, and stunt coordinator Charles Picerni, Jr.), as stunt double for Spencer Breslin in Disney's The Kid (2000, with Janet Brady, Jeff Imada, Matt McColm, and Manny Perry), as stunt double in A Man Apart (2003, with Scott Workman and Anita Hart), and as stunt double for Atticus Shaffer in The Unborn (2009, with Marie Fink and Randy Hall).

Other films he performed stunts in include Alien (1979), Enemy Mine (1985), Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986, with Dana Dru Evenson, Beth Nufer, and George Wilbur), Hot Shots! (1991), Hook (1991), Leprechaun (1993, with Kurt D. Lott, Denise Lynne Roberts, and Susan Rossitto), Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994, starring Heather Langenkamp and with stunts by Chris Doyle, Maria Kelly, and Lynn Salvatori), The Little Rascals (1994), The Jungle Book (1994), Sudden Death (1995), Matilda (1996, with Dana Dru Evenson, Eddie Hice, and stunt coordinator R.A. Rondell), Face/Off (1997), BASEketball (1998), Three Kings (1999), and Van Helsing (2004).

Roy also performed stunts in episodes of In the Heat of the Night, Rescue 911 (with host William Shatner), The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. (coordinated by Chris Doyle), Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, and Touched by an Angel.

External links[]

Advertisement