Episode II Casting Director Robin Gurland has continued to seek top talent for the many roles needed to fill the Star Wars universe. "Because of the non-conventional approach we're taking to Episode II, I haven't been bound by the kinds of constraints normally imposed by studios."

According to Gurland, the result is a raising of the bar in terms of the talent brought to the film. "I always describe the smaller roles in Star Wars as a series of stand alone vignettes," she explains. "The actors must impart their contribution in one or two scenes - set the mood, introduce their character and concisely convey what they're about. For that, I obviously want the strongest actor possible."

Jack Thompson will tackle the role of a modest farmer in Episode II. His prolific acting career includes roles in such classic films as The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, The Man From Snowy River and Breaker Morant for which he won the Cannes Film Festival Best Supporting Actor and Australian Film Institute Best Actor awards. His body of work has also earned him the Critics Circle of Australia Life Time Achievement Award and Cinema Owners Association of Australia Award for Outstanding Contribution to Australian Film Entertainment. Thompson's career has spanned the Pacific with leading roles in both Australian and American films including The Sum of Us, Broken Arrow, Excess Baggage, Last Dance and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

"I met Jack a number of years ago at the Mill Valley film festival screening of The Sum of Us," recalls Gurland, "and have been a huge fan of his ever since. I was thrilled when I heard he was an equally big Star Wars fan."

Gurland has continued to bring an ensemble of acclaimed Australian talent to Episode II in Graeme Blundell, Trisha Noble, Claudia Karvan and young newcomers, Keira Wingate and Hayley Mooy, all members of a tight-knit family.

An accomplished actor, Graeme Blundell's credits include Medivac, Love Of Lionel's Life, Joh's Jury and Vietnam on television, Looking Alibrandi, The Year My Voice Broke, and Don's Party on film, and Navigating, Away and The Real Thing with the Sydney Theatre Company. Blundell is also an experienced director, founder of theatre companies and contributing writer for periodicals and newspapers.

When Gurland told the first assistant director of Blundell's casting, she said "He broke into this huge grin of excitement. Graeme was an icon of 70's Australian TV and he'd grown up watching Graeme."

Trisha Noble's varied professional performing career began at the age of six performing on Saturday morning radio. Through the 1960s, she became well known as a singer, dancer, stage and television performer and motion picture actress. In 1962, Noble won the first Logie Award for the Best Female Singer on Australian Television. She launched her British career in 1964 and shared her first BBC radio show with The Beatles. She began her U.S. career in 1971 appearing in many stage productions, films, and top television programs including The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Columbo, Fantasy Island, The Love Boat, and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century before returning to Australia in 1983. "For me, bringing in Trisha was a personal kick," says Gurland. "One of my favorite shows growing up was The Courtship of Eddie's Father and I had remembered her from the show."

With a lengthy filmography for a young actress, Claudia Karvan has achieved both popular success and critical acclaim in Australia. Her portrayal of Janine on Never Tell Me Never earned a nomination for AFI's 1998 Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Television Drama, an award she won in 1996 for her role in G.P. In film, she received the Australian Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress for Heartbreak Kid in 1993 and the Palm Springs Short Film Festival Audience Favorite Award in 1998 for Two Girls and a Baby. Karvan's most recent films include Passion, Strange Planet and Risk.

According to Gurland, "Everyone's terribly excited about Claudia being here as she's one of the leading actresses of her generation in Australia. I feel very fortunate that she is lending her talents to us."

Five-year-old Keira Wingate and three-year-old Hayley Mooy will both make their big screen debuts in Star Wars: Episode II. Casting such young actors can be a real challenge according to Gurland. "Keira and Hayley had the coloring and the look we needed for the family," she said. "And they take direction well, which is the most important thing."

Lending his voice talents to multiple characters in Episode II is Christopher Truswell. His acting experience ranges from theatre (including Vroom Vroom, Dimboola and Elwood Blues in Blues Brothers) to film (including Fast Talking and Candy Regantag) to television (including Farscape, Crime of the Decade and Watch the Shadows Dance). Truswell is known to Australian audiences as Nudge in the Hey Dad! TV series.