Nick Gillard
Nick Gillard (born 1959 in Brighton, England) is a stuntman, stunt coordinator, and actor active since 1977. He is best known for directing the lightsaber fights and leading the stunt department for the Star Wars prequel films (Episodes I–III, 1999–2005).
As a boy, he ran away from military school to join the circus, performing as a bareback rider, and later worked with circuses in Germany and Spain before moving into film stunts, including The Thief of Baghdad and the original Star Wars. He was Mark Hamill’s preferred stunt double for Return of the Jedi, though he doubled for Hamill only in Britannia Hospital.
Gillard once set a world record for the longest fire stunt (over two minutes) on Alien 3, and he did a 200-foot power-boat jump in Amsterdamned, being set on fire over 100 times. His other film credits include Sleepy Hollow, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
In addition to choreographing the Star Wars prequels, he cameoed as Cin Drallig in Episode III (Nic Gillard backwards), and his likeness was used for a video game character, for which he also choreographed the combat.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 17:06 (CET).