He was 3 years old in 1977, when George Lucas' space spectacle hit theaters. It was one of those movies, Ross said, where "you wanted to see it, but you didn't know why you wanted to see it."

Today, the story set "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" has made Ross famous, in an odd way, as the man behind "The One-Man Star Wars Trilogy," a live theater show that has toured the world - and will land at the Jeanné Wagner Theater for seven performances Tuesday through Sunday.

"It's weird that 'Star Wars' has taken over my life in a sense," Ross said during a recent promotional visit to Salt Lake City. "I never intended for that to happen."

The idea for a one-man "Star Wars" began more than six years ago, when Ross was a struggling actor from Victoria, British Columbia, who decided to write some of his own material.

w=8.4 "The idea of 'Star Wars' as a one-person show wasn't necessarily a 'Eureka!' idea," Ross said. "It was one in a grand series of little kicks of the can I was making."

He started it in 2000 as a 20-minute comedy sketch, covering the plot and characters of the original film in which farmboy Luke Skywalker befriends an old wizard, rescues a princess, joins a rebel army and helps bring down the evil Death Star with two photon torpedoes and some help from The Force.

The reaction, Ross said, was "remarkable" - enough so that he fleshed it out into an hourlong show that would encompass all three films of the original trilogy: "Star Wars," "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi."

Ross uses no props or costumes, and no special effects aside from a few lighting changes. He comes onstage in a black shirt and black pants and performs the dialogue, action, music and sound effects all by himself - from the 20th Century Fox fanfare to Darth Vader's asthmatic breathing. Sometimes Ross' singing of John Williams' famous theme music recalls Bill Murray's lounge-lizard character from "Saturday Night Live," while in other moments he gently mocks such "Star Wars" iconography as Mark Hamill's '70s haircut.

The show has played around the world, usually to favorable reviews. The Age, in Melbourne, Australia, called Ross "a gifted physical comic."

Ross began touring with the show in 2002, performing at fringe-theater festivals, where it was an immediate hit.

"Once I started to tour it, it just sort of snowballed," Ross said. "I like the fact that it was sort of an organic type of thing. . . . If I had gone to Lucasfilm in the beginning and said, 'I want to do a one-man "Star Wars" show,' they may not - and understandably so - be so eager to say, 'Here's a license. Go out and have a good time.' "

While touring on the fringe circuit, Ross said he "was under the mistaken belief I was under the radar" of Lucasfilm, the keepers of George Lucas' outer-space vision. Turns out that after one of Ross' early shows in Orlando, Fla., the reviews caught the notice of Lucasfilm execs attending a "Star Wars" weekend at Walt Disney World. Soon he was contacted by Lucasfilm's fan-relations division, which organizes "Star Wars" fan conventions.

Ross performed his first fan convention in 2004, at Comic-Con in San Diego. He also performed at the 2005 Star Wars Celebration, a fan gathering tied to the release of the last film, "Revenge of the Sith." (Today, the show is licensed by Lucasfilm.)

Ross does not diss the fans, but respects their devotion. "Fandom - geekdom - to me, is about loving something so much, wearing your heart on your sleeve, that you don't care what other people think," he said.

Ross - who also has a one-man "Lord of the Rings" in his repertoire and is now writing a one-man show based on original material - is also respectful of the universal appeal of Lucas' creation.

"If you look at the larger arc of the six films, [Lucas is] using something that also has reference wherever you go, and it's family," Ross said. "Somehow family is the thing that defeats that dark power, that emperor figure. . . . The universals that are used in it surpass cultural barriers and religious barriers."

Ross the in-Vader

CHARLES ROSS will perform his "One-Man Star Wars Trilogy" this week at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 W. 300 South, Salt Lake City.

PERFORMANCES are Tuesday through Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., with 2 p.m. matinees Saturday and Sunday.

TICKETS ARE $25 to $35, available at 801-355-ARTS or www.arttix.org