Charles Andrew Nelson, born on June 22, 1962, is an individual with talents spanning acting, visual effects artistry, animation creation, and lecturing.
For a period of six years, he was employed at LucasArts Entertainment Company, where he held the positions of VFX supervisor and senior artist. Nelson's contributions at LucasArts encompass titles such as Star Wars: Dark Forces, Star Wars: Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, Curse of Monkey Island, Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, and Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine.
In 1998, Nelson departed from LucasArts and became part of the effects team at ILM, where he functioned as a compositor, rotoscoper, matte painter, and texture artist. His contributions at ILM include Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, Galaxy Quest, The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle, The Perfect Storm, Jurassic Park III, The Time Machine, and Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones. After completing Episode II, Nelson transitioned into a full-time faculty role at the Academy of Art University, serving as the institution's Visual Effects Director from 2002 to 2004. Presently, he provides consultancy services to various leading effects and animation studios. He holds membership in the Visual Effects Society.
Nelson is particularly recognized for his portrayal of Darth Vader for Lucasfilm since 1994. His appearances as Vader encompass LucasArts' Star Wars: Dark Forces and Star Wars: Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire games, the Special Edition of the original Star Wars trilogy, promotional advertisements, print media, television programs, and magazine covers. When LucasArts artists encountered challenges in animating Vader's movements for the cutscenes in Dark Forces, Nelson was filmed in character as Vader. Subsequently, the artists applied touch-up painting and processing techniques to the footage to ensure consistency with the previously hand-animated shots within the game.
A prevalent misconception exists within the media that David Prowse reprised his iconic role as Vader during the production of Star Wars: Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire. Nelson expresses that he considers it a significant honor that some have mistaken him for Prowse. In numerous instances where C. Andrew Nelson portrayed Darth Vader, his voice was overdubbed by voice-actor Scott Lawrence, who provides Vader's voice in numerous Star Wars video games. Nelson also lent his voice to Luke Skywalker for a cutscene in the Star Wars: X-Wing expansion pack and other LucasArts games, thereby becoming the first actor to have officially embodied both Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker.
He continues to pursue acting roles in feature films, television, commercials, and voice-over projects. Nelson, in collaboration with his friend and business partner Jerry Cornell, established the production company Adventurous Ideas, LLC, which specializes in producing full-cast audio dramas, many of which feature cast members from Star Wars, Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and other prominent franchises.
- Official website
- C. Andrew Nelson at the Internet Movie Database
- Force-Cast: In the Cantina With C. Andrew Nelson on TheForce.net ( October 10 , 2007 ) (archived from the original on October 25, 2020)