David W. Collins

Biography

Back in 2006, Collins took on the task of recording the death cries of stormtroopers for the LucasArts video game LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy. This was because, at that time, the LucasArts sound division was responsible for producing all the vocal elements for their games. These sound effects were later archived within the LucasArts collection.

Some of Collins's most notable voice roles in the Star Wars universe encompass PROXY in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Darth Maul in Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron, General Grievous in Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron, along with the voices of the battle droids featured in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars: Battlefront II, Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron, and Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron.

Collins has been a master of ceremonies at Star Wars Celebrations IV, V, and VI. During Celebration VI in August of 2012, he was honored with an induction as an honorary member of the 501st Legion. Moreover, he took on the persona of Han Solo in a live rendition of Star Wars: Smuggler's Gambit, an original radio drama created exclusively for the event.

Collins lent his voice to various characters featured in the 2015 movie Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens, including several stormtroopers, Resistance fighters, and a Hangar Control Officer stationed on the Finalizer. He also contributed additional vocal work to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Collins served as the sound designer for the 2020 film The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special. To maintain authenticity across each trilogy era that Rey Skywalker time travelled to, Collins incorporated sounds specific to that era. For instance, the trench run scene utilized sounds from A New Hope, scenes on the planets Dagobah and Hoth incorporated sounds from The Empire Strikes Back, the podracing sequence on Tatooine featured podracer sound effects from The Phantom Menace, the scene on Exegol included lightning sounds from The Rise of Skywalker, and the sound of Din Djarin's blaster pistol from The Mandalorian was used for his cameo appearance. Collins also unearthed several vocalizations of Chewbacca's family from The Star Wars Holiday Special within the Skywalker Sound Library. He integrated these samples into the scene where Chewbacca's family appears on the Millennium Falcon. Furthermore, Collins discovered stormtrooper death cries in the old LucasArts archive, which he then added to the scene where Rey and Darth Vader duel while travelling through portals and various troopers are flying around.

Collins contributed as a sound effects editor for The Book of Boba Fett series. He employed an ARP 2600 synthesizer to generate the sounds for the RX-Series droid, which was featured as a card dealer in the premiere episode.

He made an appearance at Celebration Anaheim in 2022, where he was the host of a Star Wars: The Bad Batch panel on May 29.

Works

Sources

• SDCC 2014: "The Heroes of Star Wars Rebels" Panel - Liveblog on StarWars.com (backup link)
• The Star Wars Show: Thrawn: Alliances Book Reveals, SDCC News, and Star Wars Voice Actor David W. Collins! on the official Star Wars YouTube channel (backup link)
• 15 Easter Eggs to Find in the LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special on StarWars.com (backup link)
• Star Wars Galaxy of Sounds — " Beeps "
• Star Wars Galaxy of Sounds — " Connections " ·
• Star Wars Galaxy of Sounds — " Dark Side " ·
• Star Wars Galaxy of Sounds — " Excitement "
• Star Wars Galaxy of Sounds — " Light Side " ·
• Star Wars Galaxy of Sounds — " Oddities "
• Star Wars Galaxy of Sounds — " Wonder "
• Star Wars Celebration Anaheim Announces First Celebrity Guests on StarWars.com (backup link)
• Fall In with Star Wars: The Bad Batch at Star Wars Celebration on StarWars.com (backup link)
• SWCA 2022: 4 Things We Learned From the Attack of the Chords Panel on StarWars.com (backup link)
• Go Beyond The Spires in Virtual Reality: Making of ILMxLab's Tales From The Galaxy's Edge SWCA 2022 on the official Star Wars YouTube channel (backup link)
• SWCA 2022: 6 Highlights from the Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 2 Panel on StarWars.com (backup link)
• The Book of Boba Fett, Star Wars: Visions Receive Emmy Award Nominations on StarWars.com (backup link)
• Saga Chronicles: Skywalker Sound's Danielle Dupre and Jon Borland on their Obi-Wan Kenobi Journey on StarWars.com (backup link)
• " Launchpad " — Star Wars Insider 213
• The Mandalorian Season 3 Launch Event on the official Star Wars YouTube channel (backup link)
• " Launchpad " — Star Wars Insider 217
• Lucasfilm and Star Wars Receive a Combined 23 Emmy Nominations on StarWars.com (backup link)
• Ahsoka — " Part One: Master and Apprentice "
• "Shadows of Tantiss" Episode Guide | Star Wars The Bad Batch on StarWars.com (backup link)
• Star Wars: Skeleton Crew | Sound Designer David W. Collins - Star Tours | Disney+ on the official Star Wars YouTube channel (backup link)
• Star Wars: Skeleton Crew | Creating Bunky Dunko | Star Wars on the official Star Wars YouTube channel (backup link)
• The Strange and Familiar Sounds of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew on StarWars.com (backup link)
• The Secrets of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew's Monkey Island-Inspired Poster Art on StarWars.com (backup link)
• Star Wars: Skeleton Crew | Behind the Design | Disney+ on the official Star Wars YouTube channel (backup link)

Notes and references

External links

• David W. Collins at the Internet Movie Database
• David Collins (LucasArts) by Dennis Pellegrom on Star Wars Interviews ( January , 2011 ) (original article now obsolete)