Warwick Davis is hitting the big time

"My wife is short as well, so having children was like playing a genetic lottery," Davis points out. "The chance of us having a normal child was one in four, and the chance of a child developing SED was also one in four. We'd previously had two children who inherited a fatal condition who both died [a boy survived just nine days in 1991 while another son arrived stillborn two years later]. So to get Annabel was like, 'Yes!' We feel very lucky to have those two..."

Growing up in Epsom, the son of an insurance broker, Davis was always encouraged by his average-sized parents to fend for himself. "If I wanted to get something from the shelf, they'd let me figure it out myself. That's a brilliant life lesson. I'm the same with my kids - I often see them clambering up shelves trying to get things. In the safest possible way, obviously." Davis also attributes his performing nous to his diminutive stature. "At school, I created a bigger personality for myself - you'll never find a little person who's meek or quiet."

His big break came early. One afternoon in 1981, Davis's grandmother was listening to a London radio station when a Lucasfilm casting call appealed for short actors to appear in an upcoming movie. It wasn't long before 11-year-old Warwick found himself auditioning at Elstree Studios and fitted up for an Ewok costume the same day.

The film was Lucas's Return of the Jedi where the Star Wars-loving boy was cast as chief Ewok, Wicket, despite an acting CV of nothing more than "performing along to the Top 40 for my parents every Sunday". While classmates had Han Solo stickers or crushes on Princess Leia, Davis was "hugging Harrison Ford's leg while purring" and hanging out in Carrie Fisher's trailer.

After filming, Davis went to California to make two Ewok spin-off movies and still earns a lucrative sideline travelling the globe for Star Wars conventions. Davis also forged a rapport with George Lucas himself, which continues, with the film-maker writing the foreword to Davis's autobiography (Size Matters Not: The Extraordinary Life and Career of Warwick Davis) and the actor honeymooning at Skywalker Ranch. Lucas also handed Davis the lead in his 1988 sub-Tolkien fantasy, Willow, starring Val Kilmer.

Suddenly Davis found himself thrust into Hollywood aristocracy, having dinner with Tom Cruise one minute and sitting next to Princess Di at royal premieres the next. Despite Willow's lacklustre box-office, Davis still finds himself accosted by fans, including one who "pulled up his shirt to reveal a tattoo of my face on his belly".

There have been other roles: a goblin in Labyrinth; an MC in Ray; Professor Flitwick in the Harry Potter movies. But the oddest has to be an evil, serial-killer leprechaun in the Leprechaun franchise, which featured Davis chasing a then-unknown Jennifer Aniston while cackling manically in a wheelchair. "I feel like I've polluted the movie world," he confesses. "Apologies!"

This summer, Davis appeared in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, alongside his son Harrison, who played a goblin ("he's been practising his autograph already"). Should his offspring decide to take up the acting baton, they're in the right place - Davis co-runs the world's biggest talent agency for people with restricted growth, Willow Management (their 120-plus clients also include actors over seven feet tall).

Do they get offered work that's derogatory? "Sometimes but as actors you're grateful for any work," says Davis. "Some people might look at little people dressed as Oompah-Loompahs at a private party and think it's degrading. I don't think so - they're portraying a film character who happens to be short and probably being paid nicely too."

Davis also occasionally gets Irish and Japanese people touching him "for luck". Tramps can also be a nagging nuisance too. "In some areas, like LA's Venice Beach, I end up with bums following me," he says. However, gaggles of drunken lads pose no problem. "They just want to become my best mate for a few minutes," says Davis. His real bête noire is the ATM machine. "It's frustrating not being able to reach cash machines properly. Not everything is set up for people like us."

Davis's future projects include Warner Bros flick Jack the Giant Killer and developing his own heist movie entitled Short Fellas. But at the moment, it's all about Life's Too Short. The comedy will nudge Davis towards household-name status. "Being short has its disadvantages," he muses. "But it also has its advantages - I wouldn't be an actor otherwise. If I was to have my life again, I wouldn't change my height. I feel blessed."

Then he's off for that short-but-joint-aching stroll to Leicester Square. If he bumped into Chewbacca waving a light-sabre on the way, you wouldn't be surprised.