Dave Filoni

Early life

Dave Filoni grew up in Mt. Lebanon, a suburb near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and attended the Mt. Lebanon High School and Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. Dave was in the marching band at Mt. Lebanon, and he was the starting goaltender for half of his senior year on the hockey team. Additionally, he designed and painted several murals at Mt. Lebanon High School, which have since been removed due to renovations.

Early career

Prior to his work on Star Wars, Filoni worked on episodes of the television series Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Directing

He is the director of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars feature film, and the supervising director of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV series.

Whilst on The Star Wars Show Filoni revealed that he originally believed he was being pranked when given the Star Wars Job. Filoni made an appearance at Celebration IV on Sunday, May 28, 2007 with producer Catherine Winder in the Celebration Theater (Room 408AB), to discuss the beginnings of the new television series and reveal how The Clone Wars is being created. At the time, he announced he would be writing for the Clone Wars monthly comic. Filoni voices the bounty hunter Embo during various episodes in different seasons.

An avid Plo Koon fan, Filoni dressed up as the Jedi Master for the opening of Revenge of the Sith, and was dismayed at the character's fate in the film. In February 2009, Filoni was inducted as an Honorary Member of the 501st Legion international costuming organization in recognition of his contributions to the continuing Star Wars saga.

Dave Filoni's office, as seen in the extra features on the Star Wars: The Clone Wars DVD, is filled with Plo Koon paraphernalia. He has a bust of Plo Koon's head, a model of Plo Koon's ship, an autographed portrait by the actor who played Plo Koon, a replica of Plo Koon's lightsaber on his desk, and his personal Plo Koon costume on display. Filoni also has a note book sized planner on his desk with Plo Koon's picture taped to the outside, and he has written the words "Plo Kool" on concept art designs for the Clone Wars, indicating that he liked those designs. Filoni also has a small model of the character Appa on his desk, from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Dave has attended all the Clone Wars premiers and attended the fifth season premiere in Orlando, Florida during the special event Celebration VI on August 24, 2012. He is the most associated with developing the characters of Ahsoka Tano, and Captain Rex.

Filoni is serving as an executive producer of Star Wars Rebels, which debuted in fall 2014, alongside Greg Weisman and Simon Kinberg. For the first 2 seasons he also served as its supervising director. He appointed Justin Ridge as his successor for the remainder of the show, though he still remained as executive producer. Filoni departed as supervising director in September 2016 when he was given the job as overseer of all future and current Lucasfilm Animation projects.

Voice acting

Dave Filoni provided the voice of the bounty hunter Embo in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. In the Star Wars Rebels season three episodes "The Holocrons of Fate" and "Legacy of Mandalore", Filoni voiced a Rebel Crewman and Mandalorian Warrior, respectively.

Personal life

Filoni's hobbies include playing ice hockey; he plays the position of goaltender. He has also participated in Snoopy's Senior World Hockey Tournament. He is a level 80 Night Elf Hunter in World of Warcraft, a longtime Godzilla fan, and an unofficial Dúnedain. He is also a fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Pittsburgh Steelers and Pittsburgh Pirates.