Though he may be the most experienced R2-D2 operator in the world, Don Bies has also worked on a sizeable assortment of film, television, theatrical and special projects in various capacities. He began his film career in 1985 working at Chris Walas, Inc. (CWI) on the David Cronenberg production of The Fly, and later on the horror films The Kiss and The Fly II as a mechanical puppet designer.

His first job at Industrial Light and Magic was in 1987 as a puppeteer on The Witches of Eastwick, and later that year joined Lucasfilm Ltd. as their official R2-D2 operator for a series of Japanese commercials. In 1988, Don became the second Lucasfilm Archivist and helped organize the first major exhibition of Lucasfilm memorabilia for the 1988 Marin County Fair. As the Archivist, he coordinated the move of the archive collection to Skywalker Ranch in June, 1991. In 1993, he supervised the restoration of over 100 items for Japan's "George Lucas Exhibition" and coordinated that exhibition which traveled throughout Japan for 15 months. During his tenure as archivist, he arranged personal appearances of many of the Star Wars characters, and operated R2-D2 for most of them.

He continued working at both Lucasfilm and ILM for the next 8 years, where at the latter he worked as a puppeteer/creature maker on Ghostbusters II and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. As a model maker, he worked on Fire in the Sky, Baby's Day Out, Radioland Murders, Young Indiana Jones and the Attack of the Hawkmen, Congo and Starship Troopers, as well as countless commercials, including the infamous "Darth Vader vs. The Energizer Bunny".

In 1996, he returned to ILM fulltime and worked in numerous behind the scenes capacities on the Star Wars Trilogy Special Editions. Onscreen, he appeared as Barquin D'an, the Bith musician in Return of the Jedi: Special Edition, as Boba Fett (talking to the dancers in Jabba's Palace) and numerous Imperial Stormtroopers, Officers, and aliens throughout the special edition sequences.

In June of 1997, Don began work on Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace with the team of model makers that created the new C-3PO puppet. He also supervised the construction of an improved R2-D2 and worked as one of four operators used throughout filming. For the next 18 months, he worked at ILM on such models as the Federation Battleship, the Republic Cruiser, Theed City, the Mos Espa Pod Racing Arena and many others. During that time, Don created props for the Dorling-Kindersley books the Star Wars Visual Dictionary and the Star Wars: Episode I Visual Dictionary, as well as the Lucasarts videogame Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II. Once work on Episode I was completed, Don worked as a model maker on The Mummy, Galaxy Quest, Pearl Harbor and Artificial Intelligence.

Beginning in January of 2000, Don was appointed the supervisor of the Droid Unit for Star Wars: Episode II and oversaw the refurbishment and updating of 16 R2-D2 robot units at Industrial Light & Magic. As the robot's operator, he traveled to Australia, Italy, Tunisia and London for first unit shooting. He and droid team member Justin Dix also created the new look for the See-Threepio costume worn by Anthony Daniels in Episode II, and he and the droid team reconfigured the Episode I C-3PO puppet to better suit Mr. Daniels.

Don continues to work on Episode II at ILM as a Senior Model Maker.