Star Wars

Darth Vader was born Anakin Skywalker, and is the father of twins Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa. He is given the name "Darth Vader" in 19 BBY.

Throughout the six Star Wars films, the character is portrayed by five different actors. Anakin Skywalker is played by Jake Lloyd as a child and Hayden Christensen as a young adult. David Prowse portrayed him in the original Star Wars Trilogy. His voice was supplied by James Earl Jones. Sebastian Shaw portrayed the dying, middle-aged (and redeemed) man behind the mask in the theatrical release of Return of the Jedi and shortly after, as his ghost; however, in the most recent DVD release, Christensen is digitally inserted in Shaw's place. Also, in the closing scenes of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, the fully armoured Vader is played by Christensen, again with Jones' voice. In the video game version of Revenge of the Sith, Vader's voice is supplied by Mat Lucas.

The character of Darth Vader also involved several stunt doubles, most notably fencing instructor Bob Anderson, who handled all of Vader's fight sequences in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Mark Hamill noted in a 1983 interview, "Bob Anderson was the man who actually did Vader’s fighting. It was always supposed to be a secret, but I finally told George I didn’t think it was fair any more. Bob worked so bloody hard that he deserves some recognition. It’s ridiculous to preserve the myth that it’s all done by one man." Industrial Light & Magic employee C. Andrew Nelson has also portrayed Vader at a number of events for Lucasfilm, as well as the videogame Rebel Assault II and in new footage filmed for the Special Edition releases of the Star Wars films in 1997.

There is some question as to when it's more appropriate to refer to the character as "Darth Vader" or "Anakin Skywalker". Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi both asserted at various times that Anakin Skywalker was destroyed and consumed by Vader during the events chronicled in Revenge of the Sith, and the appearance of Anakin's spirit to Luke is meant to portray the pre-fall Skywalker—Shaw's portrayal shows a man with a full head of hair, no burn marks, a less pasty skin color, and a full set of limbs, while Christiansen appears as Anakin did before his disfigurement. The substitution of Christiansen has been explained by Lucas as reinforcing the view that Anakin truly died prior to the original trilogy, but Star Wars seems to also approach the question with the implication that there is no simple answer to it; as Obi-Wan tells Luke during his explanation of Vader's identity, "Many of the truths we cling to depend greatly upon our own point of view."(in the Revenge of the Sith game, near in the last battle as either Obi-Wan or Anakin, Obi-Wan yells to Anakin, "Anakin Skywalker is no more! You killed him!")[2]