Harrison Ford has been associated with iconic characters like Han Solo and Indiana Jones for decades - but how old was he when Star Wars began?

Here's how old Harrison Ford was in every Star Wars movie. It's impossible to imagine Star Wars without Harrison Ford, but surprisingly he wasn't George Lucas' first choice. In fact, Lucas originally hired Ford for an unlikely role - to read lines to auditioning actors. Lucas quickly realized Ford was the right call, though, and Ford won the part of Han Solo.

Star Wars wasn't always plain sailing for Ford, of course, who clashed with Lucas on many occasions. There was actually intense debate over whether Han Solo should be killed off, but the scoundrel survived into the sequel trilogy. Ford has been known for iconic characters like Han Solo and Indiana Jones all his life, and here's how old he was for each movie.

How Old Harrison Ford Was During The Star Wars Original Trilogy

Harrison Ford was born on July 13, 1942, and production began on March 22, 1976, meaning he was 33 when filming began - and celebrated his 34th birthday shortly afterward. The first Star Wars movie released on May 25, 1977, before Ford's 35th birthday. It set a pattern he would follow through the next three films.

Filming for The Empire Strikes Back began on March 5, 1979, when Ford was aged 36. He was 37 when it released on May 21, 1980. Filming for Return of the Jedi began when Ford was 39, on January 11, 1982, and the third chapter of the original trilogy released on May 25, 1983 when he was 40.

How Old Harrison Ford Was In Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012, and swiftly began work on the Star Wars sequel trilogy. They brought back Harrison Ford as an older Han Solo, sadly revealing Han's marriage to Leia had collapsed over the years - or, perhaps, over the parsecs. Viewers eventually learned the reason; the villainous Kylo Ren was actually Han and Leia's son Ben, and his fall to the dark side had caused the breakup of a marriage that seems to have already been struggling. Ford was aged 71 when filming on Star Wars: The Force Awakens began on May 16, 2014, and he was 73 when the movie finally released on December 18, 2015.

Han Solo was killed in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but Ford returned when Han appeared in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - in a brief vision sequence. There have been no reports of when that was shot, but the final installment of the sequel trilogy released on December 20, 2019. Harrison Ford was 77 when his Star Wars career finally came to an end.