From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Mark Hamill |
Hamill in 2007 U.S. |
| Born |
Mark Richard Hamill
September 25, 1951 (1951-09-25) (age 58)
|
| Occupation |
Actor, voice actor, producer, director, writer |
| Years active |
1970–present |
| Spouse(s) |
Marilou York (1978–present) |
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.
[1] .^ Some sources list two unissued titles "The Last One" (Children's Dance) and "From The Tower."
As a child, his father's career meant numerous relocations, and he attended different schools throughout his childhood. In his elementary years he went to Poe Middle School, then for 10th grade, he attended
Annandale High School located in
Annandale, Virginia, but eventually ended up graduating from
Nile C. Kinnick High School located in
Yokosuka, Japan. He majored in drama at
Los Angeles City College.
Early career
Star Wars
In 1977, Hamill starred as
Luke Skywalker in
George Lucas' epic space saga
Star Wars. The film was an enormous and unexpected success and became revolutionary for the film industry. 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.
[2]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.
[4] According to
Star Wars producer
Gary Kurtz, Hamill was in surgery from 9 AM until 4 PM. As a result of the accident, a double was used for the
landspeeder pickup shots.
[5]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.
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).
[6] Hamill appeared on an episode of
3rd Rock from the Sun, 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."
.^ Red CD: 123 275 — Together Again For The First Time (1998) .
He also provides the voice of
Scooby-Doo in the scene which parodies the animated show, where Scooby says "Hi, Ray and Rirent Rob".
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 did voice acting work in the Ralph Bakshi film Wizards, where he played "Sean, leader of the Knights of Stardust". The film was released on the same weekend as Star Wars, and thus may have been somewhat overshadowed.
Mark Hamill has gained a reputation as a prolific voice actor, beginning with his acclaimed role as
the Joker in the
Emmy Award-winning
Batman: The Animated Series (1992-1995), as well as most of the other
spin-off series, video games and films. Hamill had initially played a guest voice-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. The most prominent feature of his portrayal that has garnered such acclaim is his dynamic use of laughter to express the Joker's feelings. Hamill referred to the Joker's laugh as being like a musical instrument and would practice laughing maniacally while driving to recording sessions, commenting that no one found this behavior strange in Los Angeles.
Hamill has appeared as the Joker in 15 episodes of
Batman: The Animated Series, three episodes of
Superman: The Animated Series, five episodes of
The New Batman Adventures, four episodes of
Justice League, and an episode of
Static Shock. He also played 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).
[7].^ "Embracing Jazz" is one of two CDs included with the book of the same title by Lars Rasmussen.
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 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
Batman film. This scene depicted the origin of
Robin, which wasn't filmed because the producers felt it was out of place with the rest of the movie.
Hamill also provided voice-acting for villains
Solomon Grundy and the
Trickster in the
DC animated universe series
Justice League and
Justice League Unlimited. Hamill has since voiced villain
Tony Zucco in
The Batman, a more recent animated series which is unrelated to the various DCAU series. He will also soon voice another DC hero, the Spectre, in an upcoming episode of the currently running Batman cartoon, The Brave and the Bold.
Hamill did the voice of Lawrance "Larry" 3000 a robot from 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's been a fan of the show since its first hour and that it was a personal thrill to work with
Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Homer Simpson and others.
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 & 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 voiced Christopher "Maverick" Blair in the animated series
Wing Commander Academy.
He is also a recurring voice actor on
Seth Green's
Robot Chicken. Adult Swim listed Hamill as one of the channel's best Voice Actors.
[citation needed]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 very successful
Metalocalypse animated series on
Adult Swim.
Anime
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 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 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, the
Sega CD version of
The Adventures of Batman & Robin, and in Batman: Arkham Asylum for the
Xbox 360 and
PS3. It is important to note that 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 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. Mark Hamill did voiceover work 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. Most recently, Hamill played as The Joker in
Batman: Arkham Asylum, the latest video game adaptation of the
Batman franchise. Hamill will again reprise his role of The Joker in Arkham Asylum's sequel. He also lent his voice talents to
Darksiders, as
The Watcher, whose voice is very similar to that of The Joker.
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 features both "Episode IV" and "Episode VI" models.
Audio books
He also provided the entire cast of voices for a 1983 Pinocchio audiobook (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.
Writing career
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 (1999) playing one of the Royal Guards of Naboo.
[8]Filmography
Features
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 (2006)
References
External links
| Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope |
|
| Characters |
|
|
| Planets |
|
|
| Cities |
|
|
| Starships |
|
|
| Vehicles |
|
|
| Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back |
|
| Characters |
|
|
| Planets |
|
|
| Starships |
|
|
| Vehicles |
|
|
| Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi |
|
| Characters |
|
|
| Planets |
|
|
| Cities |
|
|
| Starships |
|
|
| Vehicles |
|
|
| Persondata |
| NAME |
Hamill, Mark |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES |
Hamill, Mark Richard |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION |
actor |
| DATE OF BIRTH |
September 25, 1951 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH |
Oakland, California |
| DATE OF DEATH |
|
| PLACE OF DEATH |
|
Wikis
Quiz
Facts
Map
Misc
Timeline
Search
.jpg){kind=link}