Biography
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.
In 1977, Hamill starred as Luke Skywalker in George Lucas epic saga Star Wars. The film was an enormous unexpected success and became revolutionary in 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.
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.
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.
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.
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