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Mark Hamill
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Mark Richard Hamill (born September 25, 1951) is an American actor and voice artist, best known for his portrayal of Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the voice of The Joker in the DC animated universe.
ll was born and raised in Oakland, California, the son of Virginia Suzanne (née Johnson) and William Thomas Hamill, who was a captain in the U.S. Navy. He was one of seven children; two brothers, Will and Patrick, and four sisters, Terry, Jan, Jeanie, and Kim.
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Encyclopedia
Mark Richard Hamill (born September 25, 1951) is an American actor and voice artist, best known for his portrayal of Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the voice of The Joker in the DC animated universe.
Early life and education
Hamill was born and raised in Oakland, California, the son of Virginia Suzanne (née Johnson) and William Thomas Hamill, who was a captain in the U.S. Navy. He was one of seven children; two brothers, Will and Patrick, and four sisters, Terry, Jan, Jeanie, and Kim. As a child, his father's career meant numerous relocations, and he attended different schools throughout his childhood. For 10th grade, he attended Annandale High School located in Annandale, Virginia, but eventually ended up graduating from Nile C. Kinnick High School in Japan. He majored in drama at Los Angeles City College.
Early career
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, the first comedy TV series without a laughtrack, General Hospital, and One Day At A Time. One of his earliest movies was the made-for-TV film The City.
Star Wars
In 1977, Hamill starred as Luke Skywalker in George Lucas' epic space opera Star Wars. The film was an enormous unexpected success and became revolutionary in terms of filmaking. Hamill also appeared in The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978) and later starred in the successful Star Wars sequels The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983).
For his portrayal of Luke Skywalker, Hamill was twice honored with the Saturn Award for Best Actor (given by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films), for his performance in both sequels.
George Lucas was rumored to have asked Hamill to reprise the role of Luke Skywalker in a Star Wars sequel trilogy as an Obi-Wan Kenobi-type character who passes the torch to the next generation of Jedi Knights. Lucas later dismissed it as nothing more than an off-hand comment.
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.
Car accident
On January 11, 1977, a day before he was set to shoot one of the final scenes needed for Star Wars, Hamill was in a car accident in which he fractured his nose and left cheekbone. According to Star Wars producer Gary Kurtz, Hamill was in surgery from 9:00 AM until 4 PM. As a result of the accident, a double was used for the landspeeder pickup shots. In an A&E Network Biography special from 2002, entitled Mark Hamill: A Force to Be Reckoned With, members of Hamill's family, including his older brother, William, and his cousin, Eric Johnson, recounted the accident.
Live Action and Stage Work
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 and the better-known World War II film The Big Red One. As the 1980s wore on, Hamill did little film work outside of Star Wars. Instead, he acted on Broadway, starring in Amadeus, The Elephant Man, Harrigan and Hart (for which he received a Drama Desk Award nomination) and other stage plays, for which he received positive reviews.
Hamill played the villainous 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 (in which he played a police officer turned into a mutant slug with a man's face), and the 1995 remake of Village of the Damned. In 1990, he played a psychotic 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, J.P. Pitoc, and Sally Kirkland. He voiced the character of Chanukah Zombie for the 2007 straight-to-DVD release Futurama: Bender's Big Score.
In live-action television, Hamill had recurring roles in General Hospital and The Texas Wheelers (both pre-Star Wars), and he 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 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 an episode of 3rd Rock from the Sun, and playing Luke Skywalker during one of the scenes. He appeared on an episode of Just Shoot Me! He also had a guest spot on The Muppet Show as both himself and his "cousin" Luke Skywalker, along with C-3PO, Chewbacca and R2-D2. In 1986, he appeared in an episode of the TV series The Amazing Stories ("Gather Ye Acorns") in the role of Jonathan, who is advised by "Mother Nature's only son" to not discard his childhood belongings, which causes him trouble during his adult life. As he grows older, he is able to auction off his belongings as memorabilia, becoming wealthy in the process. He also had a recurring role as Tobias LeConte on seaQuest DSV.
Hamill appeared as Cock-Knocker in the film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back He also parodies Luke Skywalker in a "bong saber" duel with Jay and Silent Bob in which he says, "Don't fuck with the Jedi Master, son." When his large, fake right hand prop is cut off in the film's duel, he sighs, looks at the camera and says, "Not again." This was the first time that Hamill and his Star Wars co-star Carrie Fisher appeared in a film together since Return of the Jedi, although they share no scenes.
Hamill also directed and starred in the 2004 direct-to-DVD Comic Book: The Movie. A comic book fan who attended sci-fi 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 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.
Voice Acting
Mark Hamill has gained a reputation as a prolific voice actor, beginning with his acclaimed role as the the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series (1992), as well as most of the other spin-off series, video games and films. Hamill had initially voiced a guest role as evil businessman Ferris Boyle in the episode "Heart of Ice", and was delighted when offered the role of the Joker, one of his favorite characters.
He appeared as the Joker in 15 episodes of Batman: The Animated Series, the film Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, five episodes of The New Batman Adventures, The Batman/Superman Movie, four episodes of Justice League, three episodes of Superman: The Animated Series, an episode of Static Shock, and the film Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. "Wild Cards" was the last aired episode in which he appears as the Joker.
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 an actor whose facial structure more resembled the character. The actor's face was shot in the background so as to be slightly blurred.
Hamill also provided voices for villains Solomon Grundy and the Trickster in the DC Animated Universe series Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. Hamill also played the Trickster in the Flash TV series. Hamill has since voiced villain Tony Zucco in The Batman, a more recent animated series which is unrelated to the various DC animated universe series.
His success as The Joker has led to other 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 Dr. Jak in Phantom 2040. He even parodied his Joker role in the Tom and Jerry Kids episode "Droopy Man Returns," and in the Animaniacs episode "The Cranial Crusader", as Johnny Bad-Note. He briefly provided the voice for Dr. Knuckles Turnpike in the animated F.I.S.T. spin-off series DoubleF.I.S.T.E.D. He voiced Py-Ro in Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, Dr. Julius Pendecker in The Tick, and Niju the Evil Wolf in Balto II: Wolf Quest.
He also guest starred in two episodes of The Flash as The Trickster.
Hamill performs the voice of the villain Undergrowth in the Danny Phantom episode "Urban Jungle." More recently, he provides the voice of Fire Lord Ozai in Avatar: The Last Airbender and Skeleton King on Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go. He also guest starred as The Moth in the SpongeBob SquarePants episode: Night Light. He even played the latter character in the Mina and the Count shorts.
In the movie Bender's Big Score, Hamill provided the voice of "The Chanukah Zombie". He currently plays Senator Stampingston and Mr. Selatcia in Metalocalypse.
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, and as of August 2006, on Adult Swim's Metalocalypse. Adult Swim listed Hamill as one of the channel's best Voice Actors.
Anime
Recently, he voiced 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. Hamill provided the voice of Commander Taylor in Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles, the sequel to the 1980s adapted anime series Robotech. He also voiced Christopher "Maverick" Blair in the animated series Wing Commander Academy. He also was in Afro Samurai Resurrection.
Hamill provides the voice of 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.
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 antagonist, likely because of his success as the Joker.
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 cameo, as did many of the other actors who did voiceovers 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 Lieutenant 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 the voice for two of the primary characters of Starsiege, one of them a young warrior leading a rebellion against an empire.
He portrayed the Joker in a few Batman-themed video games, notably Batman Vengeance and the Sega CD version of The Adventures of Batman & Robin. While some have mistakenly suspected that he reprised his role as Luke Skywalker for LucasArts' Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast and its sequel, Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, the character is in fact voiced by Bob Bergen (also the voice of Porky Pig and a host of others). Hamill provided voices for The Scorpion King: Rise of the Akkadian. He 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.
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 and was on Space Ghost Coast To Coast as himself talking about Star Wars.
Mark Hamill's latest voiceover role is for the PlayStation 2 game, Yakuza, where he plays Goro Majima, a crazed and ruthless lieutenant of a Yakuza family. He is also the voice of Malefor the Dark Master in The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon. He will also be reprising his role as The Joker in the upcoming Batman: Arkham Asylum video game.
Audio Books
Hamill voiced the character of Todd Wanio in World War Z, a critically acclaimed audiobook based on Max Brooks' successful imitation of Studs Terkel's The Good War, relating the stories of survivors from the first global zombie war.
Writing Career
Mark Hamill is also the co-writer of The Black Pearl, a comic book miniseries published by Dark Horse Comics. He also 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.
Personal life
In 1978, he married dental hygienist Marilou York. They have three children together: Nathan, Griffin and Chelsea. His son Nathan had a cameo role in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace playing one of the Royal Guards of Naboo.
Filmography
Features
- Slipstream (1989)
- Fall of the Eagles (1989)
- Midnight Ride (1990)
- The Guyver (1991)
- Black Magic Woman (1991)
Short Subjects
- Earth Day (2001) (voice)
- Baxter and Bananas (2002) (voice)
- Burl's (2003) (narrator)
- Wolf Tracer's Dinosaur Island (2004) (voice)
- Batman: New Times (2005) (voice)
- Todd Wainio in World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (2006)
External links
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