Born in London, England, the four foot Purvis acted with Kenny Baker in theaters and clubs before going on to work in the Star Wars films. While Baker was cast as R2-D2, Purvis played a variety of roles in the first three films: the Jawa leader, attacking the robot, in A New Hope, Chief Ugnaught in The Empire Strikes Back, and Teebo the Ewok in Return of the Jedi, appearing in the latter with daughter Katie Purvis.