Joonas Viljami Suotamo (born 3 October 1986) is a Finnish actor and a former professional basketball player. He is best known for his role as Chewbacca in the Star Wars saga, taking over the role from Peter Mayhew, first as a body double, with Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), and later as the lead in Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) and Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018). Suotamo was born in Espoo, Uusimaa, Finland. As a youth, he performed roles as a stage actor. Suotamo attended Pennsylvania State University (PSU) and played the power forward and center positions for the Penn State Nittany Lions. With childhood interests in music, arts, and movies he studied film and video at PSU. He was a strong academic performer at Penn State, where he was twice named to the Academic All-Big Ten team, and graduated in 3½ years with a Bachelor of Arts degree in December 2008 in order to fulfill his Finnish conscription service and to pursue a career in film. Suotamo played seven seasons in Finland's basketball leagues, including four seasons in the top tier Korisliiga. He has also sold insurance. Suotamo played three games for the Finnish national basketball team and sixty-six games for the junior national teams. Suotamo is an actor and musician, but as his height limits available acting roles he is also concentrating on directing. He was a body double for the Chewbacca character played by Peter Mayhew in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and played him in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, with Mayhew as consultant. He reprised his role as Chewbacca in Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018).

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