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Mark Richard Hamill (born September 25, 1951) is an
American actor and voice actor. Hamill is best known for his portrayal of Luke
Skywalker in the original Star Wars films, and as the voice of The Joker in
Batman: The Animated Series, and as the young Colonel Blair in the Wing
Commander series. 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 was one of seven children: his two brothers, Will
and Patrick, and four sisters, Terry, Jan, Jeanie, and Kim. As a child, his
father's military career meant numerous relocations, and he graduated from high
school in Japan. He majored in drama at Los Angeles City College.
Hamill'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. He
acted in TV series such as The Texas Wheelers, the first comedy TV series
without a laughtrack, General Hospital, One Day At A Time, and Matlock. One of
his earliest movies was the made-for-TV film The City.
In 1978 he married dental hygienist Marilou York.
They have had three children together, Nathan, Griffin, and Chelsea.
****
Birth name Mark Richard Hamill
Born September 25, 1951 (age 55)
Oakland, California
Spouse(s) Marilou York
Notable roles Luke Skywalker
in the original Star Wars,
The Joker
in Batman: The Animated Series
Colonel Christopher Blair
in the Wing Commander series
****
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 Star Wars Episode V:
The Empire Strikes Back and in 1983 for Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the
Jedi.
George Lucas once asked Hamill to reprise the role
of Luke Skywalker in a Star Wars sequel trilogy as an Obi-Wan Kenobi type
character who passes on the torch to the next generation of Jedi Knights and
that it would be made around 2011. Lucas has recently dismissed it as nothing
more than an off-hand comment.
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 Star Wars in 1977, used the image of Mark
Hamill as Luke Skywalker on the cover. [1]
Car
accident
On 11 January 1977, on the way to shoot one of the
final scenes needed for Star Wars, Hamill was in a car accident, which caused
damage to his face. An A&E Network Biography special from 2002, entitled Mark
Hamill: A Force to Be Reckoned With, claims that the damage was extensive, and
Hamill had to have multiple plastic surgeries to reconstruct his face. The
nature of the accident was recounted in the A&E special by members of Mark's
family, including his older brother, William, and his cousin, Eric Johnson.
Other sources, notably Hamill himself, claim that
Mark stated he only broke his nose, needed one reconstructive surgery, and the
severity of his physical injury was greatly exaggerated. In the second Star Wars
film, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, he is seen with a new scar
along his upper lip which may have been related to the accident. Luke's
encounter with the Wampa on Hoth explains the scar in the movie.
Animation
Batman
Hamill was also the voice of the Joker in Batman:
The Animated Series and the other animated series that followed it. He received
praise from both fans and critics alike for his portrayal of the comic book
icon. As a huge comic book fan (and creator) himself, Hamill has stated it was
both an honor and a thrill to play the character. His final appearance as the
Joker to date was the two-part Justice League episode "Wild Cards". Hamill has
since voiced the criminal Tony Zucco in The Batman, a more recent animated
series which is unrelated to the various DC animated universe series in which
Hamill's portrayal of the Joker was featured.
Other
villainous roles
His success in the role has led to various
villainous 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."
He also voiced Larry 3000 in Time Squad, Py-Ro in Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of
Cortex, Dr. Julius Pendecker in The Tick, and recorded voice tracks for Zim on
Nickelodeon's Invader Zim[citation needed], but was ultimately turned down for
the role; the part was later given to Richard Steven Horvitz (he didn't scream
longest and loudest[citation needed]). Hamill also supplies the voice of the
villain Undergrowth in the Danny Phantom episode "Urban Jungle." More recently,
he provides the voice of the shadowed Fire Lord Ozai in Avatar: The Last
Airbender. He voices the Skeleton King on Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go.
Simpsons
He appeared as himself in an episode of The
Simpsons, "Mayored to the Mob". He parodied both his Luke Skywalker role and his
Broadway roles, with a song of 'Luke be a Jedi tonight' to the tune of 'Luck be
a Lady tonight' as well as appearing in the Springfield Bi-Mon-Sci-Fi-Con where
Homer protected him from Nerds.
Anime
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. 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.
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. He provides the voice in anime series IGPX Immortal Grand Prix.
Other
work
After the success of the Star Wars trilogy, Hamill
found that audiences identified him very closely with the role of Luke
Skywalker. Not wanting to be type-casted, he left Hollywood and for a few years
acted on Broadway. He starred in Amadeus, The Elephant Man, Harrigan and Hart
(which was a musical), and other plays, for which he recieved rave reviews.
Despite his stints on Broadway, Hamill has had an
expansive film career. He 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 (in which his role as
sharpshooter Griff is considered by some to be his finest film performance),
Slipstream, 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. In 2001, Hamill starred in the feature-film
Thank You, Good Night as a pragmatic father along side Christian Campbell, J.P.
Pitoc, and Sally Kirkland. Hamill also voiced the role of Emperor Griffon in the
PS2 RPG Dark Cloud 2.
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 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-3PO, Chewbacca and
R2-D2. He is also a recurring voice actor on Seth Green's Robot Chicken, and as
of August 2006, on Adult Swim's Metalocalypse.
In 1986, he appeared in one episode of the TV
series Amazing Stories (TV series) (Gather Ye Acorns) as 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 and becomes rich as a result.
seaQuest DSV
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, and by extension, the
apparent destruction of the ship.
Jay
and Silent Bob Strike Back
He appeared as Cock-Knocker in the film Jay and
Silent Bob Strike Back, during which he used his "Joker Voice." He also parodied
both himself and Luke Skywalker in a "bluntsaber" duel with Jay and Silent Bob
in which he said "Don't fuck with a 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 is actually the first time both Hamill and his
Star Wars co-star Carrie Fisher have appeared in a film together since Return of
the Jedi. However, neither of the stars knew this fact until the film's
premiere.
Comic
Book: The Movie
He 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 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.
Wing
Commander
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
computer game roles
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 X2: Wolverine's Revenge, the tie-in game to the
movie X2: 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.)
While some suspected that he reprised his role as
Luke Skywalker for LucasArts "Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast" and its sequel, "Jedi
Academy", the character is in fact voiced by Bob Bergen.
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.
Mark Hamill's latest voice-over role is for the
PlayStation 2 game, Yakuza, where he voices the role of Goro Majima, a crazed
and ruthless lieutenant of a Yakuza family.
As a
writer
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 also wrote an introduction to the Trade Paperback Batman:
Riddler Two-Face which reprints various stories of the title villains to tie in
with Batman Forever.
Preceded by
Jack Nicholson Actors to portray the Joker
1993-2003 - DCAU Succeeded by
Kevin Michael Richardson
Filmography
Features:
Wizards (1977) (voice)
Star Wars (1977)
Corvette Summer (1978)
Sam Fuller and the Big Red One (1979) (documentary)
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
The Big Red One (1980)
The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia (1981)
Britannia Hospital (1982)
Return of the Jedi (1983)
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) (voice in
2005 English dub)
Castle in the Sky (1986) (voice in 1998 English
dub)
Slipstream (1989)
Fall of the Eagles (1989)
The Little Mermaid (1989) (voice)
Midnight Ride (1990)
The Guyver' (1991)
Black Magic Woman (1991)
Sleepwalkers (1992)
Time Runner (1993)
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993) (voice)
Silk Degrees (1994)
The Raffle (1994)
Village of the Damned (1995)
Laserhawk (1997)
Hamilton (1998)
Watchers Reborn (1998)
Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998) (voice)
(direct-to-video)
Gen¹³ (1999) (voice) (direct-to-video)
Wing Commander (1999)
Walking Across Egypt (1999)
Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists (2000) (voice)
Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders (2000) (voice)
(direct-to-video)
Joseph: King of Dreams (2000) (voice)
(direct-to-video)
Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (voice)
(direct-to-video)
Thank You, Good Night (2001)
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)
Earth Day (2001) (short subject) (voice)
Balto II: Wolf Quest (2002) (voice)
(direct-to-video)
Aero-Troopers: The Nemeclous Crusade (2003) (voice)
(direct-to-DVD)
Reeseville (2003)
Comic Book: The Movie (2004) (also director)
Repitition (2005)
Thru the Moebius Strip (2005) (voice)
Ultimate Avengers 2 (2006) (voice)
Tom and Jerry: Shiver Me Whiskers (2006) (voice)
(direct-to-DVD)
Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles (2006) (voice)
Upcoming:
Conan: Red Nails (2007) (direct-to-DVD)
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)
References
1. http://www.pupress.princeton.edu/titles/234.html
****
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