Mark Hamill

Mark Richard Hamill (born September 25 1951) is an American actor and voice actor. Hamill is best known for his portrayal of farmboy-turned-Jedi knight Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars films. After the Star Wars films, Hamill worked on Broadway, as a voice actor in animation and computer and video games, and as a comic book creator.

Hamill was born in Oakland, California. His parents are Bill and Sue Hamill. He has two brothers, Will and Patrick, and four sisters, Terry, Jan, Jeanie, and Kim.

Mark's early career includes the 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, although the role was later performed by Grant Goodeve.

The original Star Wars trilogy

For his portrayal of Luke Skywalker, Hamill was twice honored with the Saturn Award for Best Actor (Film) (given by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films), in 1980 for The Empire Strikes Back and in 1983 for Return of the Jedi. On 11 January 1977, on the way to shoot one of the final scenes needed for A New Hope, Hamill was hit in a car accident, which caused damage to his face. An A&E Network Biography special, "Mark Hamill: A Force to Be Reckoned With", claims that the damage was extensive and Mark Hamill had to have multiple plastic surgeries to reconstruct his face. Hamill and other sources, however, insist that he suffered from just a broken nose, only needed one reconstructive surgery, and that the severity of his injury has been greatly exaggerated.

In the second Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back, he is seen with a new scar along his upper lip which may have been related to the accident. Reprints of Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces (which influenced George Lucas as he was developing the Star Wars films) issued after the release of A New Hope in 1977, used the image of Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker on the cover ^*.

Animation

In addition to his role as Luke Skywalker, Hamill is also the voice of the Joker in The Animated Series and the other animated series that followed it.

His success in the role has led to various villainous and/or deranged roles in other animated series, including the Gargoyle in the animated series of The Incredible Hulk, the Hobgoblin in The Animated Series, Maximus in Fantastic Four, Captain Stickybeard in Kids Next Door, and the deranged shock jock Dr. Jak in Phantom 2040. He even parodied his Joker role in the Tom and Jerry Kids episode Droopy Man Returns. He also voiced Larry 3000 in Time Squad, Py-Ro in The Wrath of Cortex and recorded voice tracks for Zim on Nickelodeon's Invader Zim, but was ultimately turned down for the role; the part was later given to Richard Steven Horvitz (he didn't scream longest and loudest).

Two recent notable performances have included Colonel Muska in the 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. One of Hamill's current projects is providing voice acting overdubs for The Shadow Chronicles, the sequel of the 1980s adapted anime series Robotech. Also did the voice Christopher "Maverick" Blair in the animated series Wing Commander Academy. More recently, he provided the voices of The Last Airbender#Fire Lord Ozai in The Last Airbender, Jameson Burkright in the mini-series comedy The Wrong Coast, and Yamma in the joint Cartoon Network, Production I.G. anime series IGPX Immortal Grand Prix and the Skeleton King on Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!.

Other work

In live-action television, Hamill had recurring roles in General Hospital and The Texas Wheelers (both pre-Star Wars), and, foreshadowing his later famous role, appeared 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 also been made cameo appearances in MADtv and The Simpsons among others. He also had a guest spot on The Muppet Show as both himself and his "Cousin" Luke Skywalker, along with C-3P0, Chewbacca and R2-D2. He is also a recurring voice actor on Seth Green's Robot Chicken.

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..)

Other notable computer-game roles (voice only) include Lieutenant Mosely in Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers, Assistant Director Wilson in Double Helix, several characters in the LucasArts game Full Throttle (including Ripburger), and Wolverine in Wolverine's Revenge, the tie-in game to the movie X-Men United. Hamill also provided the voice for two of the primary characters of Starsiege, one of them a young warrior leading a rebellion against an empire. (The other being his brother.)

Mark Hamill is also the co-writer of The Black Pearl, a comic book mini-series published by Dark Horse Comics. Hamill appeared on an episode of 3rd Rock from the Sun, and acted as Luke Skywalker during one of the scenes. He appeared as Cock-Knocker in the film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. He also directed and starred in the 2004 direct-to-DVD The Movie.

A comic book fan who attended sf and comic cons as an ordinary fan before he became famous, Hamill has said his character was based on an exaggerated version of himself. He and his crew shot the mockumentary movie primarily during the 2002 San Diego Comic-Con, and enlisted even Stan Lee, Kevin Smith, and Hugh Hefner in small roles. The movie won an award for Best Live-Action DVD Premiere Movie at the 2005 DVD Exclusive Awards. He played the recurring character, Tobias LeConte, on seaQuest DSV, where his character (or rather the image of him) was responsible for the seaQuest's abduction from Earth.

Hamill played the bad guy in the Swedish action movie Hamilton in 1998. Some of his other film credits include Corvette Summer, The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia, The Big Red One, The Guyver, and the 1995 remake of Village of the Damned. He also narrated the four-part documentary on the influence of science fiction in present society, The Sci-Fi Files.

He starred with Linda Blair in the TV-movie Sarah T. - Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic. Hamill lent his voice to many video games, including the villain in the LucasArts adventure Full Throttle, Colonel Kroitz in Grandia Xtreme, and Akira Nishiki in Yakuza. He has voiced many characters (including himself) in the TV show Robot Chicken. In the Nickelodeon animated series The Last Airbender, he provides the voice of the Firebender ruler The Last Airbender#Fire Lord Ozai.

Hamill has also voiced several characters in The Matthew Barnard Show including long running character Grandpa Barnard. He narrated a documentary on the United States' 1st Infantry Division. Footage from the documentary was used in the video game Big Red One. He appeared on Space Ghost Coast to Coast, voiced Dr. Jak in Phantom 2040, and appeared in an episode of Just Shoot Me.

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The original Star Wars trilogy

Animation

Other work

External links