Meet the 4 feet high Hollywood giant

Deep has been working in Hollywood for approximately 30 years now! He has worked in numerous films with everyone from JJ Abrahams to Tim Burton on hugely successful franchises like Star Wars and Star Trek as well as films like Never Ending Story and Charlie and the Chocolate factory just to name a very few.

Excerpts from an interview:

Deep, how does one go from Crawley (Sussex in the UK) to Hollywood! One doesn’t often hear of someone from the suburbs of London who ends up in Hollywood with a 30-year-career!

Yes, it’s been an interesting journey. My family wanted me to be an accountant. As you know with Asian families you are always encouraged to go into these fields. Accountant, doctor, lawyer, IT! So I tried my hand at accountancy and really disliked it. I told my family I want to be a comedian and you can just imagine the reaction to this 30 years ago.

But I persisted and got my first break in TV with The New Avengers with Joanna Lumley and then got my first film with Peter Sellers in the Pink Panther films. My father passed away before I made my first appearance on TV. After the initial shock of realising I wasn’t going to be an accountant he was very supportive of my career but sadly died before he could see me succeed.

In 2001 I met Tim Burton and did Planet of the Apes with him and then my career just went from strength to strength. Big fish followed and then Charlie and the Chocolate factory.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has been by far your most successful movie career wise?

Yes it has and it was very interesting how this came about. Tim (Burton) contacted me and wanted to play 4 Oompah Loompahs. He then wanted other people to put a mask of my face on them and dance with me. However this didn’t work. So I told Tim, ‘Let me play all 165 of them.’ He said it would never work. However after a camera test where I had to be constantly mindful of keeping a distance between me and ‘me’, we gave it a go and it worked.

What was the toughest part of getting started in this most competitive of industries and sustaining it for over 30 years?

It was tough. I was bullied at school and that made me determined to succeed in life. Everyone wants to join this business — too many people, too few jobs. But I was single minded in what I wanted. It was a hard struggle. I did anything needed to make this work. I did odd jobs, sold encyclopedias, had the door slammed in my face too many times to remember,  swept floors,  and did anything I needed to keep going till I got a job doing what I loved. I would not be where I am today without the help of my family. They supported me throughout.

What qualities do you think one needs? Because clearly you did not give up and kept persevering.

Resilience, commitment, strong will, determination and passion. And of course, with all of this you need a bit of luck as well. Right place and right time. I was lucky to meet and impress Tim Burton. Tim didn’t want to work with kids. I was a good substitute! Their loss was my gain.

What is most enjoyable about what you do?

Showbiz is showbiz. You meet so many different types of people. It’s a fun business to be in. However, through all this glitz and glamour you need to be content. It’s all about contentment and where I am in my career now, I am very content.

Do you think you have to have a healthy dose of realism or do you just have to have so much self belief that you keep going against the odds?

You have to be determined and have a positive outlook. You have to have that absolute belief that it will happen. I have still got that passion inside me and still have more things I want to do.

If you think back to the last year, what has been the most challenging for you?

Covid floored the whole business. The studios got shut down. New projects were shelved and a lot of us lost a lot of work. Nowadays producers seem to go where the money is. Franchises, sequels, that’s where the money is as they know they will be successful.

Do you think creativity is dying in Hollywood due to sequels and content creators on Netflix doing a lot of the work and producing films that way?

Yes you are absolutely right. Sooner or later they won’t even use actors. AI is coming in fast and furiously! Pun intended!

If someone is thinking, ‘I have this passion. I too would like to try my hand in Hollywood,’ would you recommend they do so? Follow in your footsteps?

Absolutely. Because there is NO business like showbusiness. If you have ambition then do it. I am still a very ambitious guy. Don’t hesitate or someone will get there while you wait! Hollywood can sometimes be 'Hollyweird!

— Rukshana Chenoy-Horwood — People Management Consultant, Neurodiversity Practitioner, UK. She is a fortnightly contributor to this Lifestyle page