Mark Hamill
This section collects all information on Mark, the man. Please remember that I cannot guarantee accuracy or authenticity. I am only a fan. If you think you have spotted a mistake, contact me. That said, enjoy yourself!
Mark Hamill Biography
Mark was born September 25, 1951 in Oakland (California) as the middle child of seven - he grew up with two brothers and four sisters. His father was in the United States Navy and the family had to move frequently, so Mark spent his childhood in a number of different places all over the US and abroad. A station next to Virginia and New York was Yokosuka in Japan, where Mark graduated from High School.
Early on he discovered his interest in acting and worked with numerous theater groups at the schools he attended. Mark was 17 when his family moved back to Los Angeles, where he majored in Theater Arts at Los Angeles City College.
Intent on pursuing a professional acting career, Mark began to go to auditions. One of his first acting jobs was a small role on The Bill Cosby Show and a months-long stint on the popular soap opera General Hospital. He was quick to amass credits in a multitude of series, from The Streets of San Francisco to Petrocelli, and played in several direct-to-TV movies like Circumstantial Evidence or The City.
Soon he landed his first role in a major feature film, portraying Luke Skywalker, the aspiring young Jedi Knight of the three classic STAR WARS movies (1977, 1980 and 1983). Although this role brought him international super-stardom, it is only a small part of his impressive resume, which is comprised of a variety of projects traversing all genres of the entertainment industry.
Having overcome the aftermath of a serious car accident in early 1977, he brought his talent to movies such as The Big Red One and Corvette Summer and eventually set his sights on the theater stage, where he spent nearly seven years starring in plays. His credits include Amadeus, The Nerd, The Elephant Man, Room Service and Harrigan n' Hart, for which he earned a Drama Desk Nomination as Outstanding Actor - Musical.
Upon his return to Hollywood, he came back to movies and television, adding to his already long list of credits movies such as Village of the Damned or Commander Hamilton. He also guest-starred on hit sitcoms like 3rd Rock from the Sun and sci-fi series such as SeaQuest DSV and The Outer Limits. In these years he also broached new terrain. Mark starred as the lead hero Christopher Blair in the successful Wing Commander series of video games and began voiceacting.
He had already done voices in the 70s, for Hannah Barbera's Jeannie and Ralph Bakshi's Wizards, but had then concentrated on movies and television. In the early 90s, he was cast as Ferris Boyle on an episode of Batman: The Animated Series. He was then invited to audition for Batman's arch-nemesis, The Joker, and got the role. His brilliant job on the character made him a sought-after voiceactor and today he is one of the top voiceover artists in Hollywood for cartoons, animated movies and video games.
At that time he also published his five-issue comic book series The Black Pearl, which was received very well. Subsequently he worked for Bongo Comics, writing for one of their Treehouse of Horror Simpsons Halloween specials.
There's more to life than work, of course.
In December 1978, Mark married then dental hygienist Marilou York - they celebrated their silver wedding anniversary in 2003. He is also father of three. His eldest son Nathan (29) was born in June 1979. His brother Griffin (26) joined the family in March 1983 and in 1988, Mark's only daughter Chelsea (20) completed the trio.
In 2003, he returned to theater as Michael Minetti in the Richard Alfieri play Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks. The play had a very successful run in Miami and went to Broadway the same year.
2004 saw the release of Comic Book: The Movie, Mark's directorial debut. He did not only direct, he had also written the script and starred as the male lead, Donald Swan. In February 2005, Mark and his movie were nominated in three categories at the DVD Exclusive Awards - Best Director, Best Actor and Best Movie. Comic Book: The Movie won Best Live-Action DVD Premiere Movie!
Somewhere in that busy schedule he found the time to act in independent movies like Reeseville or Thank You, Good Night, and to do the promotion racket for The Big Red One: The Reconstruction, the restored version of the 1980 theatrical release in which he starred as Private Griff.
Now, more than thirty years after his big international breakthrough, Mark (57) is still as busy as ever, referring to the past few years as one of the most creative periods of his career. Expanding his range, he worked as voice-director on movies such as Aero-Troopers and produced a stop-motion animated satire called The Wrong Coast. He's been voicing steadily for such hit cartoons as Super Robot Monkey Team, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Codename: Kids Next Door, and Metalocalypse, to name just a few. He even got his own radio show, Better Things, all throughout summer 2007.
In 2008, he has been doing voices for numerous projects (see the Project Tracker) and been kind enough to attend SW Celebration Japan in Tokyo. These days, Mark is concentrating on the movie adaptation of The Black Pearl, which he will be directing soon. We're all very much looking forward to that.
As you can see, this biography is most certainly a work in progress. And I'm here to write on. :)