Star Wars Artists

Drew Karpyshyn

Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Drew Karpyshyn grew up in the city of St. Albert. A long time Star Wars fan, according to Drew he dressed up as a Jawa for Halloween from the ages of eight to twelve because the costume was warm and he shared something in common with the little aliens: they wanted to build droids. When his dad purchased a video camera, he got out his Star Wars toys a filmed a massive epic that sadly cost Darth Vader his lightsaber when the heat from the 500 watt light bulb melted it. When The Empire Strikes Back came out, he got into a fight at school when his best friend dared to proclaim that Darth Vader was Luke’s father. And to this day he still has a throw pillow that his aunt made him when he was nine that portrays Luke from A New Hope holding his lightsaber up with Leia clinging to his leg and Vader in the background.

Drew grew up and found himself in one of those mundane jobs as a loan officer for a credit union, but the Force would not abide by it. After a car accident, he decided to go back to school and got a fine arts degree. He even got a spot on the game show Jeopardy! (show #3577). Trying to defy the will of the Force, he took off to an early lead only to be crushed in the double Jeopardy round by Rocco and Susan (obviously Sith agents planted there to make sure his path would lead to Star Wars novels and not early riches).

At one point he and his wife Jennifer lived in Sherwood Park, a large hamlet in Alberta Canada. In 2009 they moved to Austin, Texas. He currently works for the computer game developer Bioware and does side projects in his spare time. His past work includes writing and designing for numerous games including Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, and Mass Effect. He has also written novels for Forgotten Realms and Baldur’s Gate, and four novels each in the Mass Effect and Star Wars universes. His upcoming projects include two novels, one untitled Mass Effect novel scheduled for release this year, and the much anticipated The Old Republic: Revan scheduled for release on November 15th. He is also the senior writer for the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic game which is also slated for release “holiday season” this year.

If you’d like to find out more about Drew or just keep in touch with his latest announcements, you can visit his official website www.drewkarpyshyn.com.

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