7-foot 3-inch Peter Mayhew from England started out as a hospital worker, until being featured in a newspaper article about men with unusually big feet. This got him noticed by the producers of a film called Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, who cast him as the Minotaur.
When looking for an actor to play his giant Wookiee George Lucas originally cast a bodybuilder named David Prowse. Prowse eventually switched over to the dark side and opted to play Darth Vader instead, leaving Lucas to choose Mayhew for the newly vacated role. Mayhew really took his part seriously, observing the movements of animals such as monkeys, bears, and gorillas as source material for his hairy character.
All of Mayhew's hard work proved to be quite significant when he fell sick for a day during the production of the sequel to Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back. Director Irvin Kershner chose to replace Mayhew with another extremely tall actor for the day in order to keep filming. This proved to be a mistake, however, because the actor could not replicate Chewie's movements and mannerisms as performed by Mayhew!
After filming was completed on the third Star Wars film in 1983, Mayhew did not don the Chewbacca costume again for nearly 15 years! He finally received an opportunity when he received a lifetime achievement award at the 1997 MTV Movie Awards.
You can see this touching moment for yourself on Youtube:
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