Actor Ben Schwartz reveals surprising source of income from Star Wars

Parks And Recreation actor Ben Schwartz has said he still receives payments for his voice work on Star Wars, despite doing the “least amount of work” for them.

Speaking on the latest episode of Doctor Who star David Tennant’s podcast, actor, writer and comedian Schwartz said he still receives payments for helping to originate the voice of BB-8 in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Schwartz told David Tennant Does A Podcast with…: “I helped originate the voice, so every now and then I’ll get a cheque from Star Wars.

“At the beginning it was me. Me and JJ (Abrams) would write lines for BB-8 and then we would give them to Lucas Films or ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) and then they would turn them into beeps and boops.”

BB-8 is a droid in the franchise, appearing in all three of the Star Wars sequel trilogy films as well as in the animated series, Star Wars Resistance.

Filmmaker Abrams directed and co-wrote Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker and is also known for directing Star Trek and co-creating the TV series Lost.

US actor Schwartz, 43, is best known for playing Jean-Ralphio Saperstein in the American sitcom Parks And Recreation, a mockumentary about a town’s public office, and Clyde Oberholt in the comedy-drama House Of Lies. He also voiced Sonic in the Sonic The Hedgehog films.

Schwartz has been nominated for four Emmys and in 2009 won the Emmy Award for outstanding original music and lyrics for co-writing Hugh Jackman’s opening number at the 81st Academy Awards.

He said: “When I won the Emmy, I was like, ‘my life has changed, this is going to be amazing’, and nothing changed.

“You always think like, ‘oh, this is the role where all of a sudden now everything’s going to open up’, and for a day or so it’s exciting, and then nobody cares.”

The latest episode of David Tennant Does A Podcast With… is available on Spotify now.