Though he may be the most experienced R2-D2 operator in the world, Don Bies has also worked on a sizable assortment of film, television, theatrical and special projects in various capacities. He began his film career in 1985 working at Chris Walas, Inc. (CWI) on the David Cronenberg production of "The Fly", and later on the horror films "The Kiss" and "The Fly II" as a mechanical puppet designer. His first job at Industrial Light and Magic was in 1987 as a puppeteer on "The Witches of Eastwick", and later that year joined Lucasfilm Ltd. as their official R2-D2 operator. In 1988, Don became the second Lucasfilm Archivist and helped organize the first major exhibition of Lucasfilm memorabilia for the 1988 Marin County Fair. As the Archivist, he coordinated the move of the archive collection to Skywalker Ranch in June 1991. In 1993, he supervised the restoration of over 100 items for Japan’s "George Lucas Exhibition" and coordinated that exhibition which traveled throughout Japan for 15 months. During his tenure as archivist, he arranged personal appearances of many of the Star Wars characters, and operated R2-D2 for most of them. He continued working at both Lucasfilm and ILM for the next 8 years, where at the latter he worked as a puppeteer/creature maker on "Ghostbusters II" and "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade". As a model maker, he worked on "Fire in the Sky", "Baby’s Day Out", "Radioland Murders", "Young Indiana Jones and the Attack of the Hawkmen", "Congo" and "Starship Troopers", as well as countless commercials (including the infamous "Darth Vader vs. The Energizer Bunny").

In 1996, he returned to ILM full time and worked in numerous behind the scenes capacities on the Star Wars Trilogy Special Editions. Onscreen, he appeared as Barquin D’an, the Bith musician in "Return of the Jedi - Special Edition", as Boba Fett (talking to the dancers in Jabba’s Palace) and numerous Imperial Stormtroopers, Officers, and aliens throughout the special edition sequences.

In June of 1997, Don began work on "Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace" with the team of model makers that created the new See-Threepio puppet. He also supervised the construction of an improved R2-D2 and worked as one of four operators used throughout filming. For the next eighteen months, he worked at ILM on such models as the Federation Battleship, the Republic Cruiser, Theed City, the Mos Espa Pod Racing Arena and many others. Once work on Episode I was completed, Don worked on "The Mummy" and "Galaxy Quest", "Pearl Harbor" and Steven Spielberg‘s "A.I.".

Beginning in January of 2000, Don became the supervisor of the Droid Unit for "Star Wars -Episode II: Attack of the Clones" and oversaw the refurbishment and updating of sixteen R2-D2 robot units. As the robot’s operator, he traveled to Australia, Italy, Tunisia and London for first unit shooting. Don also created the new look for the See-Threepio costume worn by Anthony Daniels in Episode II, and he and his team reconfigured the Episode I See Threepio puppet to better suit Mr. Daniels. Once back in the US, he worked at ILM on the film as a Senior Model Maker for the next fifteen months. He continued in the same capacities for "Star Wars - Episode III",

Bies conceived, co-wrote and co-directed the mock documentary chronicling the life of Artoo-Detoo entitled "R2-D2: Beneath the Dome", an online film shown exclusively on www.starwars.com. Additionally, he has created props for the Dorling-Kindersley books "The Star Wars Visual Dictionary", "The Star Wars: Episode I Visual Dictionary" and "The Star Wars: Episode II Visual Dictionary", as well as the Lucasarts video game "Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II".

His recent credits include "Peter Pan", the "Matrix" sequels, "Van Helsing", and the "Pirates of the Carribean" trilogy, for which he was nominated for a Visual Effects Society award for Best Miniatures. In 2006, he began work with Kerner Optical, the former ILM model shop, working on "Evan Almighty", "Transformers" and "Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End".

In July 2006, Don and his wife Anna formed Fair Street Films to produce their own film and television projects.