MOVIES & TV

Actor tabbed as 'Star Wars' villain grew up in Indiana

By David Lindquist
david.lindquist@indystar.com

The first actor attached to the 2015 "Star Wars" movie grew up in Mishawaka, Ind., and attended the University of Indianapolis for one year.

Variety.com reports that Adam Driver is "close to signing on" to play a Darth Vader-esque villain in J.J. Abrams' "Star Wars: Episode VII."

No other cast members have been revealed for the film, which will be shot in England this spring and arrive in theaters on Dec. 18, 2015.

Driver, 30, is known for his portrayal of Adam Sackler in the HBO series "Girls."

The actor's Indiana roots include an adolescence spent in Mishawaka (a community of 48,252 about six miles east of South Bend) and a brief stint of studying in Indianapolis. Driver graduated from New York's Juilliard School in 2009.

"I was born in California," Driver told Playbill.com in 2009. "When I was 6 we moved to a small town in northern Indiana called Mishawaka. I graduated from high school and worked a bunch of odd jobs, and then decided to join the Marine Corps for a couple years. Then I got out and went to college at the University of Indianapolis. Then I auditioned for Juilliard and got in."

Driver isn't the first "Star Wars" actor with Indiana ties. Jake Lloyd, who portrayed 9-year-old Anakin Skywalker in 1999's "Episode I: The Phantom Menace" film, graduated from Carmel High School.

Call Star reporter David Lindquist at (317) 444-6404. Follow him on Twitter: @317Lindquist.