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| Birth Name(s) : Mark Hamill |
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Full Mark Hamill Biography
Mark Richard Hamill (born September 25, 1951) is an American actor. Hamill is best known for his portrayals of Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars trilogy and The Joker in various animated series.
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, One Day At A Time, and Matlock. One of his earliest movies was the made-for-TV film The City.
For his portrayal of Luke Skywalker, Hamill was twice honoured 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.
Reprints of Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces (which influenced Lucas as he was developing the Star Wars films) issued after the release of Star Wars in 1977, used the image of Hamill as Luke Skywalker on the cover.
Hamill was the voice of the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series (which debuted in 1992), as well as most of the other spin-off series, video games and films. It is perhaps his most popular role outside of his work in the Star Wars series. 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 received praise from fans and critics for his portrayal of the comic book icon, which combined the Joker's manic, darker qualities with a theatrical, bombastic flair. As a huge comic book fan (and creator) himself, Hamill has said it was an honor and a thrill to play the character. When asked by fans to perform the role in person, he would often insist that they turn around so as not to ruin the illusion.
Hamill also provided voices for villains Solomon Grundy and the Trickster in the DC Animated Universe series Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. On a sidenote Hamill also played the Trickster in the Flash TV Series. 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.
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 typecast, 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 received positive reviews.
Despite his stints on Broadway, Hamill has had an expansive film career. He played the bad guy (known as Hawkins) 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, 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 upon 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. He voiced the character of Chanukah Zombie for the 2007 straight-to-DVD release Futurama: Bender's Big Score.
This was actually the first time that Hamill and his Star Wars co-star Carrie Fisher appeared in a film together since Return of the Jedi. However, neither of the stars was aware of this until the film's premiere.
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.
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.
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 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 of the title villains to tie in with Batman Forever.
In 1978, he married dental hygienist Marilou York. They have three children together: Nathan, Griffin and Chelsea. |
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