Mark Hamill

Mark Hamill (born September 25, 1951) is an American actor and voice artist. He is known in the Marvel Animated Universe as Hobgoblin on, Maximus on , and Gargoyle on. He is 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.

Early Life
Mark was born in Oakland, California to Virginia Suzanne (née Johnson) and William Thomas Hamill. William was a captain in the United States Navy. He was the forth of seven children. Two brothers named Will and Patrick and four sisters named Terry, Jan Jeanie, and Kim. Because of his father's occupation he constantly relocated and attended different schools throughout his childhood. He eventually graduated from Nile C. Kinnick High School in Japan. He then majored in drama at the Los Angeles City College.

Mark made his acting debut on The Bill Cosby Show in 1970. He had a recurring role as Kent Murray on General Hospital and co-starred on the comedy series The Texas Wheelers. His first voice acting job was as Corey Anders on the Saturday morning cartoon show Jeannie by Hanna-Barbera Productions. He was the oldest son, David, on the pilot episode of Eight Is Enough, but was later replaced by Grant Goodeve. He had a job on One Day At A Time and his first movie was the made-for-television film The City.

Star Wars
Hamill's best known role is as Luke Skywalker in George Lucas' legendary epic space opera trilogy Star Wars. He was originally supposed to return as David on Eight Is Enough but had to be released from his contract so that he could star in the movie, sensing that the film would be successful and wanting to focus on a film career. Surpassing expectations, the film was an enormous financial and critical success and became revolutionary in the film industry. He appeared in Star Wars in 1977, The Star Wars Holiday Special in 1978, The Empire Strikes Back in 1980, and Return of the Jedi in 1983.

Mark was involved in a car accident on January 11, 1977, a day before he was to shoot one of his last scenes for the first film. The accident caused substantial damage to his face by fracturing his nose and left cheekbone, and a double was used for the scene since it was shot at a distance. He was given facial reconstruction surgery from 9:00 AM till 4:00 PM that would save his career in the short term, but over time the scarring would become more and more noticeable.

He then had to wear an extensive amount of facial makeup to reprise the role in the Holiday Special. An in-universe explanation was given as being attacked by a large creature at the beginning of Empire.

Mark's son, Nathan, was born before shooting the first theatrical sequel. He would have two more children named Griffin and Chelsea. Nathan would have a cameo in Episode I as a Naboo Royal Guard.

Mark was honored twice, for theatrical both sequels, with the Saturn Award for Best Actor given by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Film.

It was rumored that Lucas wanted Mark to reprise the role of Luke in a sequel trilogy who passes the torch to another generation of Jedi Knights. However, this was later dismissed as nothing other than an off-hand comment made between the two.

Post-Star Wars Work
Mark attempted to avoid typecasting since audiences identified him very closely with the role of Luke Skywalker. He worked as Corvette Summer in World War II film The Big Red One but did not do much film work. He acted on Broadway in Amadeus, The Elephant Man, and Harrigan and Hart. The latter of which earned him a Drama Desk Award nomination. He was in other stage plays which gave him several positive reviews.

In 1998 Mark played the villainous Hawkins in the Swedish action film Hamilton. He also appeared in The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia, Britannia Hospital, Slipstream, The Guyver, the 1995 remake of Village of the Damned, Midnight Ride, and Thank You, Good Night. He narrated a four-part documentary about the infuence of science fiction on society called The Sci-Fi Files.

Mark is no stranger to comic book heroes, he played The Trickster on the live-action television series The Flash, which he would reprise on the animated Justice League Unlimited.

He made several cameo appearances on television series such as Saturday Night Live, MADtv, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Just Shoot Me!, The Muppet Show, and The Amazing Stories. He had a recurring role on seaQuest DSV.

He would parody his famed role by appearing in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. He directed and starred in the 2004 direct-to-DVD film Comic Book: The Moive, which he based on his own experiences as a comic book fan who once attended sci-fi and comic conventions before he was famous. The film won an award for Best Live-Action DVD Premiere Movie at the 2005 DVD Exclusive Awards.

Voice Work
Mark gained attention as a prolific voice actor in 1992 when he played Joker on Batman: The Animated Series. He would reprise the role in each subsequent series and even several video games. He reprised the voice in the live action series Birds of Prey. He took the role as Joker was one of his favorite characters.

He voiced other characters in the DC Animated Universe such as the evil businessman Ferris Boyle, Solomon Grundy, and the Trickster. He would later voice the villain Tony Zucco in the unrelated series The Batman.

The first character he voiced in the MAU was Maximus on, Hobgoblin on , and later Gargoyle on.

Other voice credits include Scooby Doo on Zombie Island, Captain Stickybeard in Codename: Kids Next Door, a deranged shock jock in Phantom 2040, a parody of Joker on Tom and Jerry Kids and Animaniacs, Dr. Knuckles Turnpike in DoubleF.I.S.T.E.D., Py-Ro in Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, Dr. Julius Pendecker in the superhero parody The Tick, and Niju the Evil Wolf in Balto II: Wolf Quest.

He voiced the character of Chanukah Zombie for the 2007 straight-to-DVD release Futurama: Bender's Big Score.

He is also a recurring voice actor on Seth Green's Robot Chicken, and on Adult Swim's Metalocalypse. Adult Swim listed Hamill as one of the channel's best Voice Actors.