The top 15 best performances in Star Wars
By Tom Farr
9. Frank Oz as the Voice of Yoda
Frank Oz was known as a puppeteer and voice actor for The Muppets when George Lucas hired him to perform as the little green Jedi Master Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back. His performance of the quirk eccentric green alien won over audiences, making Oz one of the most respected actors involved in the Star Wars franchise by fans. Not only did Oz make the Yoda puppet believable, but his voice and Yoda’s distinct way of speaking in reversing the order of subjects and verbs in sentences were also truly remarkable. At first, you think he has to be crazy as he pushes Luke’s buttons upon their first meeting, but you soon realize that this is just a performance from a master teacher trying to get to the bottom of Luke’s motivation for finding him.
Through Oz’s performance, Yoda exudes a calm wisdom and a passionate resolve at the same time. He’s been teaching Jedi for a long time, and he soon convinces both Luke and the audience that what he has to offer is infinitely valuable. When George Lucas moved to using CGI to portray Yoda’s on screen appearances in the prequel trilogy, Oz’s voice still grounded the character, making him a calm voice of reason in the midst of the chaos of war.