Ian McDiarmid

Ian McDiarmid ( ; born 11 August 1944) is a Scottish actor and director of stage and screen. He is best known internationally for portraying Emperor Palpatine in the Star Wars franchise.

Making his stage debut in Hamlet in 1972, McDiarmid joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1974, and has since starred in a number of William Shakespeare's plays. He has received an Olivier Award for Best Actor for Insignificance (1982) and a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for Faith Healer (2006).

In addition to portraying Palpatine in Star Wars, he also acted in Gorky Park (1983), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), Restoration (1995), Sleepy Hollow (1999) and The Lost City of Z (2016).

Early life McDiarmid was born in Carnoustie, Angus, Scotland, on 11 August 1944. He became a theatre aficionado at the age of five when his father took him to see an act named Tommy Morgan at a theatre in Dundee. In 2004 he said, "It sort of fascinated me, and it also scared me. All those lights, all that make-up. I said to myself, 'I don't know what this is, but I want it.'"

However, fearing his father's disapproval, McDiarmid attended Queen's College, Dundee (now the University of Dundee, but then a constituent part of the University of St Andrews), where he received a Master of Arts in psychology. Soon after, he decided to pursue a career in the theatre instead, and took acting training courses at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow.

In 1968 McDiarmid received a gold medal for his work from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, the first of many recognitions given to him for his work in the theatre. McDiarmid said he became its recipient "by doing all the boring jobs you have to do when you are young, to eke out an existence."

Career Theatre McDiarmid has worked as an actor and director in British theatre. He has starred in several Shakespeare plays, including Hamlet (1972), The Tempest (1974, 2000), Much Ado About Nothing (1976), Trevor Nunn's 1976 Macbeth (television 1978), The Merchant of Venice (1984) and King Lear (2005). He played Ivanov in Tom Stoppard's play Every Good Boy Deserves Favour at the Mermaid Theatre in 1978.

From 1990 McDiarmid and Jonathan Kent served as the artistic directors of the Almeida Theatre in Islington, London, gaining the commitment of prominent actresses such as Glenda Jackson and Claire Bloom for their productions. The two men resigned in 2001 with the venue in good shape. Their tenure was marked by a string of highly successful performances involving actors such as Kevin Spacey and Ralph Fiennes. While connected with the Almeida, McDiarmid directed plays such as Venice Preserv'd (1986) and Hippolytus (1991). In 2002 McDiarmid won Almeida Theatre's Critic's Circle Award for Best Actor for his role as Teddy in a revival of Brian Friel's Faith Healer. Five years later in 2006, he reprised this role in his debut on Broadway. Directed by Kent, he performed alongside Fiennes and Cherry Jones, and won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play. From April to June 2012 he played the title role in Timon of Athens at Chicago Shakespeare Theater.

He portrayed Harry Hackamore in Sam Shepard's play Seduced. McDiarmid described Hackamore as a Howard Hughes-type character. To play the part, he was made-up in prosthetics, including a false beard and long fingernails. McDiarmid was only 37 at the time, and this convinced George Lucas and Richard Marquand that he could convincingly play a much older character in extreme cinematic close-up, which helped him land the role of Palpatine.

Star Wars

After a minor part in the film Dragonslayer (1981), McDiarmid was cast by Lucas in Return of the Jedi (1983) as the Emperor, the film's villain. CNN named McDiarmid fourth in their top 10 British villains, stating it was his "darkly seductive voice" that "stole the show", and it was a "masterclass in ruling through fear and manipulation." Sixteen years after Return of the Jedi, he reprised the role as the character's younger incarnation of Senator (and later Supreme Chancellor) Palpatine and the Sith Lord Darth Sidious in the prequel films: The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. The prequels had him play two faces to his character; he re-created his diabolical interpretation of the Emperor from Return of the Jedi when playing Darth Sidious, Palpatine's Sith alter ego, but created a pleasant, charming character in Palpatine's public persona. McDiarmid portrayed Palpatine on-screen for the first time since Revenge of the Sith in the 2019 film Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the third film in the sequel trilogy, and the ninth and final episode in the Skywalker saga.

In the 2004 re-release of The Empire Strikes Back, a brief scene between Darth Vader and a hologram of Darth Sidious was updated to include McDiarmid. The Emperor was originally voiced by Clive Revill for that scene, and visually portrayed by Marjorie Eaton. With this addition to The Empire Strikes Back, McDiarmid has now appeared in every live-action film version in which Sidious appears.

He has also worked with the Star Wars expanded universe as the voice of Darth Sidious in the video game adaptations of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi: Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. McDiarmid made a small appearance during Celebration Europe. From 23 to 26 August 2012, he attended Celebration VI in Orlando, Florida, and had his own show titled The Phantom Menace: Ian McDiarmid, hosted by James Arnold Taylor, in which he talked about his experience working on Star Wars and how he landed the role of Sidious. McDiarmid also voiced a pig version of Sidious for a promotional video for Angry Birds Star Wars II, entitled "Join the Pork Side". McDiarmid appeared as Darth Sidious in the 2022 TV series Obi-Wan Kenobi, using new scenes and archive material from the prequel trilogy. He also voiced Palpatine/Darth Sidious in Star Wars: The Bad Batch.

Television and radio McDiarmid took an early role as Mickey Hamilton, a killer intent on avenging the death of his wife and child in The Professionals (series 2, episode 13) for London Weekend Television. In 1990 he appeared in the Central Independent Television series Inspector Morses episode "Masonic Mysteries" as the psychopathic con man Hugo DeVries. In 1997 McDiarmid played the villain Ronald Hinks in the Touching Evil two-part episode "Through the Clouds/The Lost Boys". He played the role of a police detective named Porfiry Petrovich in the BBC's 2002 adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel Crime and Punishment. In 2003 McDiarmid took the role of the Stuart statesman Edward Hyde in the BBC series Charles II: The Power and The Passion.

In 2005 he portrayed Satan in the 41-part BBC Radio 4 drama based on John Milton's Paradise Lost, which was subsequently re-broadcast on BBC 7. He played the novelist Henry Fielding in the Channel 4 historical drama series City of Vice and Denis Thatcher in the 2009 television film Margaret.

McDiarmid played the intelligence chief LeClerc in a 2009 BBC Radio dramatisation of John le Carré's The Looking Glass War. In 2014, he played a leading role as the British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey in the BBC television drama 37 Days, which is about the diplomatic crisis preceding the First World War. He also had a recurring role on series 2 of Utopia, playing the role of Anton. In September 2016 McDiarmid starred in the audio podcast drama series Akiha Den Den. He played Cuttings, a ham radio buff who picks up a mysterious voice (Joy McAvoy) coming from an abandoned amusement park , and Prospero in a BBC Radio 3 "new, environmentally-inflected production of The Tempest to coincide with COP26 in Glasgow", on 7 November 2021.

Personal life In 2009 The Scotsman referred to McDiarmid as an "atheist of Presbyterian stock", and in 2014 The Independent described him as having no religious faith.

Work in theatre

Stage appearances

Hamlet, Open Space Theatre, London, 1972 And They Put Handcuffs on the Flowers, Open Space Theatre, London, 1973 In the Jungle of Cities, Place Theatre, London, 1973 Macbeth, Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, England, 1973, then Bankside Globe Theatre, London, 1973 Measure for Measure, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-on-Avon, England, 1974 Macbeth, Royal Shakespeare Company, Aldwych Theatre, London, 1975 Macbeth, Royal Shakespeare Company, Other Place Theatre, Stratford-on-Avon, England, 1976 Destiny, Royal Shakespeare Company, Other Place Theatre, 1976 Dingo, Royal Shakespeare Company, Other Place Theatre, 1976 Schweyk in the Second World War, Royal Shakespeare Company, Other Place Theatre, 1976, then Warehouse Theatre, London, 1977 Much Ado About Nothing, Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-on-Avon, 1976, then Aldwych Theatre, 1977 That Good Between Us, Royal Shakespeare Company, Warehouse Theatre, 1977 Macbeth, Royal Shakespeare Company, Warehouse Theatre, 1977 The Days of the Commune, Royal Shakespeare Company, Aldwych Theatre, 1977 Dingo, Royal Shakespeare Company, Warehouse Theatre, 1978 Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Mermaid Theatre, London, 1978 Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen, Oxford Playhouse, 1980 Mephisto, adapted by Gordon McDougall from the book by Klaus Mann, Oxford Playhouse Company, The Roundhouse Theatre, London, 1981 The Worlds, New Half Moon Theatre, London, 1981 Ezra, New Half Moon Theatre, 1981 Insignificance, Royal Court Theatre, London, 1982 Tales from Hollywood, National Theatre, 1983 The Wild Duck by Henrik Ibsen, the Royal Exchange, Manchester, 1983 The Merchant of Venice, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Pit (Barbican Centre), 1984 The Party, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Pit (Barbican Centre), London, 1985 Henry V, Royal Shakespeare Company, Barbican Theatre, London, 1985 (Chorus) The War Plays, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Pit (Barbican Centre), 1985 Crimes in Hot Countries, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Pit (Barbican Centre), 1985 The Castle, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Pit (Barbican Centre), 1985 Downchild, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Pit (Barbican Centre), 1985 Edward II, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, England, 1986 The Saxon Shore, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1986 Creditors, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1986 The Danton Affair, Royal Shakespeare Company, Barbican Theatre, 1986 The King Goes Forth to France, Royal Opera, Covent Garden, 1987 (Froissart) Don Carlos, Royal Exchange Theatre, 1987 (King Philip) The Black Prince, Aldwych Theatre, 1989 Volpone, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1990 The Rehearsal, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1990 Lulu, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1991 Hippolytus, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1991 The School for Wives, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1993 Hated Nightfall, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, England, 1995 Tartuffe, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1996 The Government Inspector, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1997 The Doctor's Dilemma, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1998 The Jew of Malta, Almeida Theatre, 1999 The Tempest, Almeida Theatre, 2000–01 Faith Healer, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 2001 Faith Healer, Gate Theatre in Dublin, 2001–2002 The Embalmer, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 2002 Henry IV, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, England, 2004 Lear, Sheffield Crucible, 2005 Faith Healer, Booth Theatre, 2006 John Gabriel Borkman, Donmar Warehouse, 2007 Jonah and Otto, Manchester Royal Exchange, 2008 Be Near Me, National Theatre of Scotland and Donmar Warehouse, 2009 Six Characters in Search of an Author, Headlong Theatre, 2008–2010 The Prince of Homburg, Donmar Warehouse, 2010 Emperor and Galilean, National Theatre, 2011 The Faith Machine, Royal Court Theatre, 2011 Timon of Athens, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, 2012 Life of Galileo, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford, 2013 Merchant of Venice, Almeida, London, 2014 What Shadows, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Birmingham, 2016 The Lemon Table, Salisbury Playhouse, Wiltshire Creative, Sheffield Crucible, Cambridge Arts Theatre, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, HOME Manchester, Malvern Theatres, 2021

Stage director

Venice Preserv'd, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1986 Dom Juan, Royal Exchange Theatre, 1988 The Possibilities, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1988 Scenes from an Execution, Almeida Theatre, 1990 The Rehearsal, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1990 Volpone, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1990 Lulu, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1991 Hippolytus, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1991 A Hard Heart, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1992 Venice Preserv'd, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1995

Filmography

Film

Television Year Title Role Notes 1976 Red Letter Day Blade Episode: "Amazing Stories"1979 Macbeth Ross / The Porter Television film The Professionals Mickey Hamilton Episode: "The Madness of Mickey Hamilton" 1981 ITV Playhouse Fedka Episode: "Last Night Another Dissident..." 1983 The Nation's Health Doctor Vernon Davis 4 episodes 1985 Pity in History Murgatroyd Television film 1988 The Modern World: Ten Great Writers Fyodor Dostoyevsky Episode: "Crime and Punishment" 1990 Inspector Morse Hugo De Vries Episode: "Masonic Mysteries" 1991 Chernobyl: The Final Warning Dr. Vatisenko Television film1993 The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles Professor Levi Episode: "Paris, October 1916" Heart of Darkness Doctor Television film Selected Exits George Devine 1995 Annie: A Royal Adventure! Dr. Eli Eon1996 Karaoke Oliver Morse 4 episodes Cold Lazarus Oliver Morse Episode #1.3 Hillsborough Dr. Popper Television film1997 An Unsuitable Job for a Woman Ronald Callender Episode: "Sacrifice" Rebecca Coroner Episode #1.2 Touching Evil Ronald Hinks 2 episodes1999 Great Expectations Jaggers Television film All the King's Men Rev. Pierrepoint Edwards 2002 Crime and Punishment Porfiry Petrovich 2003 Charles II: The Power and The Passion Sir Edward Hyde 2004 Spooks Prof. Fred Roberts Episode #3.22005 Our Hidden Lives B. Charles Television film Elizabeth I Lord Burghley 2 episodes 2008 City of Vice Henry Fielding 5 episodes 2009 Margaret Denis Thatcher Television film2014 37 Days Sir Edward Grey 3 episodes Utopia Anton / Phillip Carvel 5 episodes 2018 Britannia King Pellenor 9 episodes Star Wars Rebels Emperor Palpatine / Darth Sidious (voice) 3 episodes; Re-dubbed lines for an earlier 2015 episode "The Siege of Lothal" that were originally voiced by Sam WitwerStar Wars Galaxy of AdventuresEmperor Palpatine / Darth Sidious (voice)Episode: "Luke vs. Emperor Palpatine - Rise to Evil" (archive recording only) 2020 Star Wars: The Clone Wars Darth Sidious (voice) Episode: "Shattered" (archive recording only)2021—2024Star Wars: The Bad BatchEmperor Palpatine / Darth Sidious (voice)2 episodes(Also archive recording only in episode: "Aftermath") 2022Obi-Wan KenobiEmperor Palpatine / Darth SidiousEpisode: "Part VI"Episode: "Рart I" (archive material only)Tales of the Jedi Darth Sidious (voice) Episode: "The Sith Lord"

Video games Year Title Role 2013Angry Birds Star Wars IIEmperor Palpatine (voice)

Awards and nominations