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Mark Richard Hamill (; born September 25, 1951) is an American actor. He starred as Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars franchise, in the original and sequel trilogies. Through the 1980s, Hamill distinguished himself from his role in the original Star Wars trilogy by pursuing a theatre career on Broadway, starring in productions of The Elephant Man, Amadeus and The Nerd. His other live-action film and television roles include Kenneth W. Dantley Jr. in Corvette Summer (1978), Private Griff in The Big Red One (1980), Crow in Sushi Girl (2012), Ted Mitchum in Brigsby Bear (2017), and Arthur Pym in the Netflix miniseries The Fall of the House of Usher (2023). Hamill has also had a prolific career as a voice actor, known for voicing the Joker in various DC Comics projects, commencing with Batman: The Animated Series in 1992. Other voice roles include the Hobgoblin in Spider-Man: The Animated Series (1995–1998), Fire Lord Ozai in Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005–2008), Mr. Salacia and Senator Stampingston in Metalocalypse (2006–2013, 2023), and Skips in Regular Show (2010–2017). Early life Mark Richard Hamill was born on September 25, 1951, in Oakland, California, to Virginia Suzanne (née Johnson) and William Thomas Hamill, a U.S. Navy Captain. He is one of seven children, with two brothers, Will and Patrick, and four sisters, Terry, Jan, Jeanie, and Kim. His father has English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh ancestry and his mother was of half Swedish and half English descent. Hamill has described his father as a staunch Roman Catholic, and "Nixon Republican". His father's changes of station and attendant family moves led to the Hamill children switching schools often. During his elementary years, he attended Walsingham Academy in Williamsburg, Virginia, and Edgar Allan Poe Middle School in Annandale, Virginia. At age 11, he moved to the 5900 block of Castleton Drive in San Diego, California, where he attended Hale Junior High School. During his first year at James Madison High School in San Diego, his family moved back to Virginia, and Hamill attended Annandale High School. By his junior year, his father was stationed in Japan, where Hamill attended and was a member of the Drama Club at Nile C. Kinnick High School, from which he graduated in 1969. He later enrolled at Los Angeles City College, majoring in drama. Career Beginnings Hamill's early career included a recurring role on the soap opera General Hospital, and a starring role on the short-lived sitcom The Texas Wheelers. He portrayed the oldest son, David, in the pilot episode of Eight Is Enough, though the role was later performed by Grant Goodeve. He also had guest appearances on The Bill Cosby Show, The Partridge Family, Room 222 and One Day at a Time. He appeared in multiple television films such as The City and Sarah T. – Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic. Star Wars Robert Englund was auditioning for a role in Apocalypse Now when he walked across the hall to where auditions were taking place for George Lucas's Star Wars. After watching the auditions for a while, he realized that Hamill, his friend, would be perfect for the role of Luke Skywalker. He suggested to Hamill that he audition for the role; as it turned out, Hamill's agent had already set up the audition that gave him the role. Released in May 1977, Star Wars was an enormous, unexpected success and had a huge effect on the film industry. Hamill went on to appear in the less-than-successful Star Wars Holiday Special in 1978, and later starred in the successful film sequels The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. During the time between the first two films, Hamill was involved in a serious car accident, fracturing his nose and left cheekbone. False rumors spread that his face had required plastic surgery. For his part in both of the sequels, Hamill was honored with the Saturn Award for Best Actor, given by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. In 1980, he made a guest appearance on The Muppet Show, both as himself and as Luke Skywalker in the episode The Stars of Star Wars. The episode also starred C-3PO and R2-D2, who joined Luke on a search for Chewbacca. Hamill reprised the role of Luke Skywalker for the radio dramatizations of both Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. For the Return of the Jedi radio drama, the role was played by a different actor. Editions 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. Hamill has appeared in several documentaries, including The Making of Star Wars and Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy. He also narrated the 1983 documentary From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga. Hamill returned to the Star Wars universe in 2014, when he voiced the ancient Sith Lord Darth Bane in the last episode of season 6 of the animated series The Clone Wars. He was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for his performance. Following its acquisition of Lucasfilm, The Walt Disney Company released more Star Wars films, starting with The Force Awakens on December 18, 2015. Initially, both Disney and Hamill were coy about whether Hamill would be a cast member. It was reported that Hamill had been assigned a nutritionist and personal trainer ahead of production. In September 2013, Hamill's friend Robert Englund confirmed that "they've got Mark in the gym because Mark's coming back as Luke Skywalker." Despite having top billing, Hamill only appears briefly at the end of the film (with no dialogue) in a cliffhanger set-up for the sequel. Hamill played Skywalker again in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, released on December 15, 2017. Hamill was initially critical of his own role in the film, stating that he and director Rian Johnson had "a fundamental difference" regarding Skywalker's characterization. Hamill later expressed regret for having made those statements, calling the film an "all-time great". He played Skywalker again in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Hamill also had voice cameos as Dobbu Scay in The Last Jedi, Boolio in The Rise of Skywalker, and EV-9D9 in the fifth episode of The Mandalorian. He had similar cameos in The Force Awakens, Rogue One, and Solo: A Star Wars Story in undisclosed roles, for which he was credited as "William M. Patrick" and "Patrick Williams". Hamill was digitally de-aged to reprise his role as Skywalker in the season 2 finale of The Mandalorian and the sixth chapter of the spin-off series The Book of Boba Fett. He also appeared in Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian. Other work After the success of Star Wars, Hamill found that audiences identified him very closely with Luke Skywalker. He became a teen idol, appearing on the cover of teen magazines such as Tiger Beat. He attempted to avoid being typecast by appearing in the 1978 film Corvette Summer and the better-known 1980 World War II film The Big Red One..... Discover the Richard Mark French popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Richard Mark French books.