Mark Hamill

**Mark Richard Hamill** (born September 25, 1951) is an American actor, voice artist, and writer. He is most widely known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the *Star Wars* franchise, beginning with the original 1977 film and subsequently winning three Saturn Awards for his performances in *The Empire Strikes Back* (1980), *Return of the Jedi* (1983), and *The Last Jedi* (2017).

He portrays Arthur Pym in *The Fall of the House of Usher*.

## Early life

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, having two brothers, Will and Patrick, and four sisters, Terry, Jan, Jeanie, and Kim. His father has 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. In his elementary years, he went to 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 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 also appeared in the less-than-successful *Star Wars Holiday Special* in 1978 and later starred in the successful sequels *The Empire Strikes Back* and *Return of the Jedi*. During the time between the first two films, Hamill was involved in a serious automobile accident, fracturing his nose and left cheekbone. False rumors spread that he had required plastic surgery on his face. 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. Also in 1980, he made a guest appearance on *The Muppet Show*, both as himself and as Luke Skywalker in *The Stars of Star Wars*; this episode also starred C-3PO and R2-D2 who were shown as coming along with him 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.

With the acquisition of Lucasfilm by The Walt Disney Company, a Disney press release was announced that there would be more *Star Wars* films starting with *The Force Awakens*, which was released on December 18, 2015. Initially, both Disney and Hamill were coy about whether Hamill would be a cast member of *The Force Awakens*. It was reported that Hamill had been assigned a nutritionist and personal trainer to work with 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" on Skywalker's characterization. Hamill later expressed regret for having made those statements, calling the film an "all-time great", and reprised his role as Skywalker again in *Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker*.

Hamill also had brief vocal cameos as Dobbu Scay in *The Last Jedi*, Boolio in *The Rise of Skywalker*, EV-9D9 in fifth episode of *The Mandalorian* as well in *Rogue One*, *Solo: A Star Wars Story* and *The Force Awakens* 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 Luke 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* and *The Book of Boba Fett*.

### Other work

After the success of *Star Wars*, Hamill found that audiences identified him very closely with the role of Luke Skywalker. He became known as 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*. One of his other film appearances around this time was in *The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia*, in 1981 and *Britannia Hospital* in 1982. Further distancing himself from his early blockbuster role, Hamill started acting on Broadway, starring in plays such as *The Elephant Man* in 1979, *Amadeus* in 1983, *Harrigan 'N Hart* in 1985 (for which he received a Drama Desk Award nomination), *Room Service* in 1986 and *The Nerd* in 1987–88. When *Amadeus* was adapted for film in 1984, Hamill auditioned to reprise the role on the big screen, but lost the part to Tom Hulce. A studio executive told the producers of the film, "I don't want Luke Skywalker in this film". Hamill also made television appearances; in a 1986 episode of *Amazing Stories* and a 1987 episode of *Alfred Hitchcock Presents*.

After a six-year hiatus from film, Hamill returned to the big screen in the 1989 science fiction film *Slipstream*. He continued to star in films throughout the 1990s, including the thriller *Midnight Ride* and *The Guyver* in 1991, the 1995 remake of *Village of the Damned*, and the 1998 Swedish action film *Hamilton*. Hamill appears in the 2001 film *Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back* as the supervillain Cocknocker, a role that is a parody both of himself and of roles he had played in the past.

His television work included a guest appearance in two episodes of the live-action 1990 television series of *The Flash*, in the role of the Trickster, cameo appearances on MADtv, where he played the estranged father of Ms. Swan, and an appearance on *Saturday Night Live* in which he played himself being sold in a *Star Wars*-themed home shopping sale. He appeared in an episode of *3rd Rock from the Sun* in 1997, and of *Just Shoot Me!* in 1998, in two episodes of *seaQuest DSV* in 1995 (as Tobias LeConte), and in the episode "Mind over Matter" of the 1995 television series *The Outer Limits*.

When the *Wing Commander* series of computer games started to use 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*, *Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom* and *Wing Commander: Prophecy*. In the 1999 *Wing Commander* film, set earlier in the series, the character was played by Freddie Prinze, Jr., although Hamill had a voice cameo. Hamill appears in *Squadron 42*, the single player campaign from the Star Citizen computer game universe as Lieutenant Commander Steve "Old Man" Colton.

In 2003, Hamill starred in the two-hander play *Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks* as the acerbic dance instructor Michael Minetti. He played opposite Rue McClanahan for the season at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami, and opposite Polly Bergen when the production moved to Broadway.

Hamill also directed and starred in the 2004 direct-to-DVD *Comic Book: The Movie*. Hamill, having been a comic-books fan who had attended science-fiction and comics conventions before he became famous, stated 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 Stan Lee, Kevin Smith, Bruce Campbell and Hugh Hefner in small roles. The movie won an award for Best Live-Action DVD Premiere Movie at the 2005 DVD Exclusive Awards.

In 2011, Hamill appeared as a villain in the fifth season of the NBC series *Chuck*.

Hamill appeared in the television series *Criminal Minds*, in the last two episodes of season eight, as John Curtis (also known as "The Replicator"), a serial killer who stalks the BAU team throughout the show's eighth season. He also made a guest appearance alongside George Takei in the season one finale of the ABC sitcom *The Neighbors as Commandant Bill*.

Hamill did not star in any live-action films for a number of years—-until 2011, when he starred in the Hungarian film *Thelomeris*, a project on which he also served as a creative consultant. It was the first mainstream science fiction film to be produced in Hungary.

The following year, Hamill starred in two more live-action films: the British horror film *Airborne* and the small independent film *Sushi Girl*. *Airborne* was met with a negative reception from critics and audiences. Hamill said in an interview that *Sushi Girl* was a great challenge for him as it took him out of his comfort zone since it was such a dark film. He did not accept the role until he got encouragement from his daughter, who said he would be crazy not to accept it.

In 2014, Hamill played James Arnold, an academic professor from Imperial College London and an expert in climate change, in the film *Kingsman: The Secret Service*. He also reprised his role as the Trickster in The CW's 2014 live-action series *The Flash*, appearing in the seventeenth episode of the first season, the ninth episode of the second season, and the ninth episode of the third season.

He starred in the 2018 film *Con Man*, an independent film about the life of famous con man Barry Minkow. Hamill played Minkow's father, Robert Minkow.

Hamill appears in the second season of the historical-fiction drama series *Knightfall*, which premiered in 2019. His role is Master Talus, a veteran Templar who trains the initiates at the Chartres Temple.

It was announced in April 2022 that Hamill would make an appearance on the revival of *The Kids in the Hall*, which was set to be released on Amazon Prime Video the following month, on May 13.

## Personal life

According to a 1981 profile in People, Hamill's "first serious love" was actress Anne Wyndham, cast as his sister on *General Hospital*, with whom he had an offscreen relationship. He would later describe experiencing seasons of on-set awkwardness while working with her after their relationship ended. In a 2017 interview, he attributed his long, happy marriage to a non-actor to learning, through his relationship with Wyndham, the dangers of being in a relationship with a fellow actor.

On December 17, 1978, Hamill married dental hygienist Marilou York in a private civil ceremony. They have three children: Nathan Elias, Griffin Tobias, and Chelsea Elizabeth. Nathan was born during the production of The Empire Strikes Back and had a cameo appearance as one of the Royal Guards of Naboo in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Chelsea made a photographic appearance as an infant Axel Walker in the 1990 television series The Flash; the same photograph was used in the 2014 series. All three have cameos as Resistance soldiers in The Last Jedi.
On January 11, 1977, before shooting one of his scenes in Star Wars, Hamill was in a car accident in which he fractured his nose and left cheekbone. As a result, a double was used for the landspeeder pickup shots.

Hamill is an outspoken advocate of the Democratic Party and has supported its candidates. Prior to the 2012 presidential election, he referred to Mitt Romney as a "snake oil salesman". He endorsed P.G. Sittenfeld in the 2016 Ohio Senate election. He has also criticized the tweets of Donald Trump by reading them out in his Joker voice.

Hamill was also an early fan of David Letterman, having occasionally appeared on Late Night with David Letterman, as well as taping every episode and keeping a journal documenting the show. After encountering writer Chris Elliott, Hamill was asked for assistance in helping determine the 1,000th Viewer Mail that Letterman had answered. His practice continued to Letterman's new show on CBS, but eventually stopped.