Mark Hamill

Mark Hamill
Hamill in Hollywood, California in 2010
Born	(1951-09-25) September 25, 1951 Oakland, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Actor, filmmaker
Years active	1970–present
Spouse(s)	Marilou York (m. 1978–present)
Children	3
Signature

Mark Richard Hamill (born September 25, 1951) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is best known for portraying the hero Luke Skywalker in the 1977 film Star Wars and its two sequels, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. In recent decades he has become a prolific voice actor, most notably as The Joker in a number of Batman cartoons and video games (beginning with Batman: The Animated Series in 1992). Hamill will return to his Star Wars role as Luke Skywalker in 2015 in Episode VII - Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Youth

Hamill was born in Oakland, California, and raised in Virginia. He is a son of Virginia Suzanne (née Johnson) and William Thomas Hamill, who was a Captain in the U.S. Navy. He is one of seven children, including two brothers, Will and Patrick, and four sisters, Terry, Jan, Jeanie, and Kim. His mother was of half Swedish descent. When Hamill was a child, his father's career forced the family to move on numerous occasions, and he subsequently attended different schools. In his elementary years, he went to Walsingham Academy and Poe Middle School. At age 11, he moved to the 5900 block of Castleton Drive in San Diego, California, where he attended Hale Junior High School. During his first year at James Madison High School, his family moved to Virginia where he attended Annandale High School. By his junior year, his father was stationed in Japan, where Hamill attended and graduated from Nile C. Kinnick High School on Yokosuka Naval Base and was a member of the Drama Club. He later enrolled at Los Angeles City College and majored in drama.

Career

Beginnings

Hamill's early career included voicing the character Corey Anders on the Saturday morning cartoon Jeannie by Hanna-Barbera Productions. He also portrayed the oldest son, David, on the pilot episode of Eight Is Enough, though the role was later performed by Grant Goodeve. He acted in TV series such as The Texas Wheelers, Hawaii Five-O, General Hospital, The Partridge Family, and One Day at a Time. One of his earliest films was the television film The City.

Star Wars

Main article: Star Wars

Hamill on the cover of reprints of the hardcover book The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell.

Robert Englund was auditioning for a part in Apocalypse Now when he walked across the hall where auditions were taking place for George Lucas's Star Wars. After watching the auditions for a while, he realized that Hamill, his friend, would be perfect for the role of Luke Skywalker. He suggested to Hamill that he audition for the part; Hamill did, and won the role.

Released in the summer of 1977, Star Wars was an enormous unexpected success and made a huge impact on the film industry. Hamill also appeared in the Star Wars Holiday Special (1978) and later starred in the successful sequels The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). For each of the sequels, Hamill was honored with the Saturn Award for Best Actor given by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Horror Films.

He reprised the role of Luke Skywalker for the radio dramatizations of both Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back, but did not act in the Return of the Jedi radio drama due to budgetary concerns. With the acquisition of Lucasfilm by The Walt Disney Company, it has been announced that there will be more Star Wars films starting with Episode VII (Star Wars: The Force Awakens), which will be released in 2015. Hamill will appear in the new trilogy alongside fellow Star Wars actors Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher, reprising their roles as Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia, respectively.

Reprints of Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces (which influenced Lucas as he was developing the films) issued after the release of Star Wars in 1977 used the image of Hamill as Luke Skywalker on the cover.

Hamill returned to the Star Wars universe in 2014, where he voiced the legendary ancient Sith Lord, Darth Bane, in the final episode of the animated series The Clone Wars.

Other work

Hamill in Amsterdam in 1980

After the success of Star Wars, Hamill found that audiences identified him very closely with the role of Luke Skywalker. He attempted to avoid typecasting by appearing in Corvette Summer (1978) and the better-known World War II film The Big Red One (1980). He also made a guest appearance on The Muppet Show as both himself and Luke Skywalker. C-3PO and R2-D2 were along with him on a search for Chewbacca in that episode. As the 1980s wore on, Hamill did little film work outside of Star Wars. Instead, he acted on Broadway, starring in The Elephant Man, Harrigan 'N Hart (for which he received a Drama Desk Award nomination), The Nerd, and other stage plays, for which he received positive reviews.

Hamill played the antagonist Hawkins in the Swedish action movie Hamilton in 1998. Some of his other film credits include The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia, Britannia Hospital, Slipstream, The Guyver, and the 1995 remake of Village of the Damned. In 1990, he played an escaped mental patient who terrorizes Michael Dudikoff and his wife in Midnight Ride. He also narrated The Sci-Fi Files, a four-part documentary about the influence of science fiction upon present society. In 2001, Hamill starred in the feature film Thank You, Good Night alongside Christian Campbell, John Paul Pitoc, and Sally Kirkland. Hamill appeared in the film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and parodies Luke Skywalker, The Joker, The Trickster (of "The Flash" fame), and the rest of the vast array of super-villain voices he has done and himself all at the same time.

Mark Hamill at the premiere of F.I.S.T in 1978.

In live-action television, Hamill had recurring roles in General Hospital and The Texas Wheelers, and a small role in The Bill Cosby Show. He guest appeared in two episodes as the Trickster in the live-action television series of The Flash, a role he would later reprise in the animated series Justice League Unlimited. He has made cameo appearances on MADtv (where he played the estranged father of Ms. Swan), and appeared on Saturday Night Live (playing himself being sold on a Star Wars-themed home shopping sale). Hamill appeared on single episodes of 3rd Rock from the Sun and Just Shoot Me! In 1986, he appeared in an episode of the TV series Amazing Stories ("Gather Ye Acorns") in the role of Jonathan. He also had a recurring role as Tobias LeConte on seaQuest DSV. It has been recounted by Richard Hatch that, shortly after the filming of Star Wars, when Mark appeared on set for a guest appearance on Streets of San Francisco, he was asked by Richard about recent work, to which Mark had reportedly replied "I just finished a movie called Star Wars."

Hamill also directed and starred in the 2005 direct-to-DVD Comic Book: The Movie. A comic book fan who attended science fiction and comic conventions before he became famous, Hamill claimed that his character was based on an exaggerated version of himself. He and his crew shot most of the "mockumentary" film during the 2002 San Diego Comic-Con, and enlisted Stan Lee, Kevin Smith, Bruce Campbell and Hugh Hefner in small roles. The movie won an award for Best Live-Action DVD Premiere Movie at the 2005 DVD Exclusive Awards.

Voice acting

Hamill at a signing for The Black Pearl at Jim Hanley's Universe in Manhattan, October 1996

Hamill has gained a reputation as a prolific voice actor. He previously did voice acting work in the Ralph Bakshi film Wizards, where he played Sean, which was released just three months before Star Wars in 1977. Though the voice role he is most known for is Batman's archenemy the Joker, his success as the Joker has led him to portray a wide variety of characters (mostly villainous) in television, film, anime, and video games. Hamill was also the voice of The Hobgoblin in the 1990s Spider-Man cartoon series.

Hamill's acclaimed role as the Joker began in Batman: The Animated Series (1992–1995), and continued to many later spin-off series, video games and films. Hamill had initially played a guest voice role as corrupt businessman Ferris Boyle in the episode "Heart of Ice", and was delighted when offered the role of the Joker, one of his favorite characters, after the previous choice Tim Curry dropped out. The most prominent feature of his portrayal that has garnered such acclaim is his dynamic use of laughter to express the Joker's mood. Hamill referred to the Joker's laugh as being like a musical instrument and would practice laughing maniacally while driving to recording sessions. Hamill received critical acclaim for his performance, which put him in high demand as a voice-over actor of cartoon villains.

Hamill also voiced the Joker in three episodes of Superman: The Animated Series, five episodes of The New Batman Adventures, five episodes of Justice League, an episode of Static Shock and a few segments in Robot Chicken. He also voiced the Joker in the theatrical film Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993) and the direct-to-video film Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000).

Hamill in 2011

The short-lived WB live action series, Birds of Prey, based on the comic book of the same title, featured a flashback sequence in which the Joker shoots Barbara Gordon (Batgirl) and paralyzes her. This sequence featured Hamill voicing the Joker, dubbed over actor Roger Stoneburner whose facial structure more resembled the character. The actor's face was shot in the background so as to be slightly blurred. Hamill also voiced the Joker alongside his Batman: The Animated Series co-star Kevin Conroy as Batman and Jason Hillhouse as Dick Grayson in a feature of a storyboard scene included in the 2005 Special Edition DVD of Tim Burton's 1989 film Batman. This scene depicted the origin of Robin, which was not filmed because the producers felt it was out-of-place with the rest of the film. Hamill has said that he has voiced the Joker for toys and amusement park rides. Although these jobs did not pay particularly well, he enjoyed even these small roles and admitted being protective of the character, expressing concern with others "sleeping in his sleeping bag". He also self-identifies as a "real comic book nerd".

Hamill has portrayed the Joker in a few Batman-themed video games, notably Batman Vengeance, the Sega CD version of The Adventures of Batman & Robin, and in Batman: Arkham Asylum. Hamill again reprised the role in the Arkham sequel, Batman: Arkham City. In May 2010, Hamill declared to IGN UK that his role in Arkham City would be his last as the Joker, saying the ending was fitting enough to retire his Joker on a "high note". This was due to, after the release of Arkham Asylum, Hamill revealing that "This will be my last, there's no question about that. But it's the last hurrah." Some months later, with the announcement of Arkham City, he clarified the rumors about him retiring the role by saying, via his Twitter account, "Only said Arkham Asylum would be hard to top, not that I was quitting." On October 19, 2011, shortly after the release of the game, Hamill again announced his retirement on his Twitter account, saying "Hello/Goodbye Joker! I've enjoyed every minute behind the wheel of the Clown Prince's crazy car — I'm going to miss him more than I can say!!". However, Hamill has since denied his statements of retiring the character, stating that he was somehow "misquoted". On July 14, 2012, during a San Diego Comic-Con interview with Spike TV, Hamill was asked about his decision to retire the role, he responded, "Well...never say never". On June 2012, WB Games released the expansion pack DLC titled "The Last Laugh" for the MMORPG DC Universe Online, featuring Hamill as the Joker. He also posted his "never say never" comment on Twitter.

During a 2011 Comic-Con, when asked about Heath Ledger's Oscar-winning portrayal of the character in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, Hamill claims it was the most original performance he has ever seen since Anthony Hopkins' Oscar-winning portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs. Hamill also commented that if there would ever be an animated version of Batman: The Killing Joke, he would gladly voice the Joker again, encouraging fans to campaign for said adaptation, most notably in a tweet made on October 24, 2011. Since then, a Facebook page titled "Petition to get Mark Hamill to play the Joker in animated Killing Joke" has been set up by his fans.

Hamill did the voice of Lawrance "Larry" 3000, in Cartoon Network's animated series Time Squad. He also guest starred in The Simpsons episode "Mayored to the Mob". On the audio commentary of the episode, he says that he has been a fan of the show since it debuted in 1987 on The Tracy Ullman Show and that it was a personal thrill to work with Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Homer Simpson.

His acclaim for the Joker role has led to other super-villain roles in other animated series, including the Gargoyle in the animated series of The Incredible Hulk, the Hobgoblin in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Maximus in Fantastic Four, Captain Stickybeard in Codename: Kids Next Door, and the deranged shock jock anchorman Dr. Jak in Phantom 2040. He even parodied his Joker role in the Tom & Jerry Kids episode "Droopy Man Returns," and in the Animaniacs episode "The Cranial Crusader", as Johnny Bad-Note. He voiced Dr. Julius Pendecker in The Tick, and Niju the Evil Wolf in Balto II: Wolf Quest. He also voiced Christopher "Maverick" Blair in the animated series Wing Commander Academy. In 1999, he provided the voice of Van Ripper in The Night of the Headless Horseman. He voiced the character of Chanukah Zombie for the 2007 straight-to-DVD release Futurama: Bender's Big Score. He also voiced the character Adolpho in Loonatics Unleashed. He also voiced the character Bats Biker in the Disney Channel original series Gravity Falls.

Hamill was also the voice of Judah in the DreamWorks film Joseph: King of Dreams.

Hamill also provided voice-acting for comic-book baddies Solomon Grundy and the Trickster in the DC animated universe series Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. Hamill has since voiced the murderous gangster Tony Zucco in The Batman, an animated series unrelated to the various DCAU shows. He also voiced the Spectre, in an episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, another animated series unrelated to the DCAU.

Hamill performs the voice of the bad guy Undergrowth in the Danny Phantom episode "Urban Jungle." He provided the voice of series antagonist Fire Lord Ozai in Avatar: The Last Airbender and Skeleton King in Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!. He also guest starred as The Moth in the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Night Light". Additionally, he played the latter character in the Mina and the Count shorts.

In the Hanna-Barbera Productions cartoon SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron, Hamill voiced Jonny K., the Red Lynx, and Burke, among others. He is also a recurring voice actor on Seth Green's Robot Chicken.

In April 2009, he had a voice cameo in the NASA animated short "Robot Astronomy Talk Show: Gravity and the Great Attractor," part of the web-series IRrelevant Astronomy, produced by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.

He is currently doing voicework for several characters in the Metalocalypse animated series, and plays the voice of Skips in the animated series Regular Show. He also voices Frank the Director in Random! Cartoons on Frederator Studios. He also voiced Abraham Kane in the new series, Motorcity.

In 2012, it was confirmed that Hamill is also doing the voicework for Alvin the Treacherous, a villain who is appeared in DreamWorks Television Series, Dragons: Riders of Berk.

Hamill narrated the Medal of Honor and Silver Star citations of Tibor Rubin, Ralph E. Pomeroy, John Finnigan and Mitchell Red Cloud Jr. for the 2013 Korean War documentary Finnigan's War directed by Conor Timmis.

He voiced Colonel Muska in the second English-language version of Castle in the Sky and the Mayor of Pejite in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, both directed by Hayao Miyazaki and distributed by Disney. Hamill provided the voice of Commander Taylor in Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles, the sequel to the 1980s adapted anime series Robotech. He was also in Afro Samurai Resurrection.

Hamill provides the voice of Jameson Burkright in the miniseries comedy The Wrong Coast, and Yamma in the joint Cartoon Network/Production I.G anime series IGPX Immortal Grand Prix. In early 2010, he voiced as Dante's father in the anime film version of Dante's Inferno. And in 2014, Hamill made a return to the Star Wars Universe through The Clone Wars as Darth Bane in the series finale "Sacrifice"

Video games

Hamill's roles in television animation led to his recruitment as a voice actor for a number of video games, most often as the protagonist.

When the Wing Commander series of computer games started using full motion video cut scenes, Hamill was cast as the series protagonist, Colonel Christopher Blair, a role he played in Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger (1994), Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom (1995), and Wing Commander: Prophecy (1997). (In the 1999 Wing Commander film, set earlier in the series, the character was played by Freddie Prinze, Jr.) He did, however, have a voice-over cameo, as did many of the other actors who did voice-overs for the game. Hamill was also cast as the voice of Christopher Blair in the animated television series Wing Commander Academy.

Other notable computer-game roles (voice only) include Detective Mosely in Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers, Assistant Director Wilson in Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix, several characters in the LucasArts game Full Throttle (including the game's main villain, Adrian Ripburger), and Wolverine in X-Men 2: Wolverine's Revenge, the tie-in game to the movie X-Men 2. Hamill also provided a voice for one of the selectable voicesets in Icewind Dale (Heart of Winter expansion) and also two of the primary characters of Starsiege, one of them a young warrior leading a rebellion against an empire. Hamill voiced characters for The Scorpion King: Rise of the Akkadian, and also played the role of Emperor Griffon in the PlayStation 2 role-playing game Dark Cloud 2, as well as Colonel Kroitz in Grandia Xtreme.

While some have mistakenly suspected that he reprised his role as Luke Skywalker for LucasArts' Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast and Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, the character is actually voiced by Bob Bergen (also the voice of Porky Pig and others). Hamill's likeness is also used as an alternative character model in the Wii and PlayStation 2 versions of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. The PlayStation 2 and Wii editions feature both A New Hope and Return of the Jedi models.

He narrated a documentary on the United States' 1st Infantry Division. Footage from the documentary was used in the video game Call of Duty 2: Big Red One. He has appeared in two installments in the Crash Bandicoot series: in Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex as Py-Ro the Fire Elemental, and in Crash: Mind over Mutant as the Znu.

Hamill did voiceover work for the PlayStation 2 game Yakuza, where he plays Goro Majima, a lieutenant in a Yakuza family. He is also the voice of Malefor the Dark Master in The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon. He also lent his vocal talents to Darksiders, as the Watcher.

Hamill also lent his voice to the English version of the PlayStation Portable title, Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep as Master Eraqus. The game's director, Tetsuya Nomura, stated in an interview that he chose Hamill for the part specifically because of his role as Luke Skywalker.

One of Hamill's most prestigious roles in video games is his work on Batman: Arkham Asylum, as the Joker. He also played the Joker in the sequel, Batman: Arkham City, winning the 2011 British Academy Video Game Award for Best Performer.

Having voiced the character across multiple media for nearly 20 years, he finally retired from voicing the Joker in 2011.

Hamill voiced the character of Todd Wainio in World War Z, a critically acclaimed audiobook based on Max Brooks' novel of the same name.

He also provided the entire cast of voices for a 1983 audiobook version of Pinocchio (with unique characteristics for each). Hamill also reads life into the characters of the popular juvenile fiction book series, The Spiderwick Chronicles Volumes I–III, by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi.

Narration

Hamill is credited as the narrator in Ancient Voices, a 1999 series of documentaries on archaeology and ancient history produced by as a BBC/The Learning Channel co-production, and published by Time-Life as a DVD series.

Later live action work

In 2011, Hamill appeared as a villain in the fifth season of NBC's show Chuck.

Hamill also appeared in the TV series, Criminal Minds in the last two episodes of season eight as John Curtis, aka "The Replicator", a serial killer who has been stalking the BAU team throughout the show's eighth season. He also made a guest appearance alongside George Takei in the season one finale of the ABC sitcom The Neighbors as Commandant Bill.

Hamill did not star in any live action films for a number of years until 2011, where he starred in the film Minkow, an independent film about the life of Barry Minkow, the famous con man. Hamill played Minkow's father, Robert Minkow. The same year he starred in the Hungarian film Thelomeris. The film was the first mainstream science fiction film to be released in Hungary.

The next year Hamill starred in two more live action films, British horror film Airborne and the small independent film Sushi Girl. Airborne was met with a negative reception from critics and audiences. Hamill said in an interview that Sushi Girl (which also starred Tony Todd, Noah Hathaway, James Duval and Danny Trejo) was a great challenge for him as it took him out of his comfort zone, since it was such a dark film. He did not accept the role until he got encouragement from his daughter, who said he would be crazy not to accept it.

Return to Star Wars

Main article: Star Wars: The Force Awakens

On April 29, 2014, Hamill was announced as a cast member of Star Wars: The Force Awakens by The Walt Disney Company.

For over a year prior to the announcement both Disney and Hamill were coy about whether he would be a cast member. In an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek in March 2013, George Lucas hinted that Hamill, along with his Star Wars co-stars Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford, would reprise their respective roles in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Hamill confirmed similar information to ETOnline.com in February 2013, saying, "They're talking to us. George wanted to know whether we'd be interested...we haven't signed any contracts." Hamill said he knew nothing about the storyline. In September 2013, Robert Englund, actor and longtime friend of Hamill, said that Hamill was currently working out in the gym. Englund stated "Mark now – they've got Mark in the gym, because Mark's coming back as Luke Skywalker. They've got him doing his sit-ups." It was previously reported that both Hamill and Fisher had been assigned nutritionists and personal trainers to work with ahead of production.

Writing

Hamill is the co-writer of The Black Pearl, a comic book miniseries published by Dark Horse Comics. He wrote an introduction to the Trade Paperback Batman: Riddler Two-Face which reprints various stories involving The Riddler and Two-Face to tie in with Batman Forever. He has also written several stories for Simpsons Comics, including "Catastrophe in Substitute Springfields!", which parodies DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths and also references several other classic comics.

Personal life

On December 17, 1978, Hamill married dental hygienist Marilou York in a private civil ceremony. They have three children together: Nathan (born June 25, 1979), Griffin (born March 4, 1983), and Chelsea Elizabeth (born July 27, 1988). Nathan was born during the production of The Empire Strikes Back and had a cameo role in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999), playing one of the Royal Guards of Naboo.

On January 11, 1977, one day before he was set to shoot one of the needed scenes in Star Wars, Hamill was in a car accident in which he fractured his nose and left cheekbone, requiring seven hours of surgery. As a result, a double was used for the landspeeder pickup shots.

At the 2012 Comic-Con, Hamill said to OnTheRedCarpet.com: "If you don't vote for Barack Obama, you're insane. 'Cause without him, I think the middle class will completely disappear. And you look at Romney and I'm sure he's a nice guy, and he is like The Thing, he only imitates human behavior, he's not actually human himself." He has discussed politics on The Young Turks on Current TV.

Filmography

Main article: Mark Hamill filmography

3

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1981	The Elephant Man	Merrick
1985	Harrigan 'N Hart	Tony Hart	Nominated – Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical
1987–88	The Nerd	Willum Cubbert
2003	Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks	Michael Minetti

Comics

Year	Title	Notes
1996–97	The Black Pearl	Written with Eric Johnson
2012	The Secret Service	Portrayed a hostage who is rescued by a Secret Service Agent

External links

• Mark Hamill at IMDb
• Mark Hamill at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Mark Hamill at the Internet Broadway Database
• Mark Hamill at the TCM Movie Database
• Mark Hamill at AllMovie
• Mark Hamill at FEARnet
• Performance Working in the Theatre seminar video at American Theatre Wing, April 1987