Mark Hamill has been a household name for decades, and while his name's become synonymous
with Star Wars' Luke Skywalker - undoubtedly his best-known role - there's a lot more to
the actor than the moisture farmer turned space wizard he's so often conflated with.
One area in which Mark Hamill and Skywalker are remarkably similar is in their definitively
unglamorous upbringings.
Though Hamill didn't grow up as the son of farmers on a desert planet, he was the fourth
of seven children, all of whom were ushered from location to location as their father
was stationed in various places as a U.S. Navy captain.
Though Hamill had the exciting opportunity to live in Japan for part of his youth, that
didn't prevent him from starting his acting career like so many bright-eyed young people:
working at a fast food restaurant and racking up smaller roles.
In fact, Hamill was even fired from his job at a Jack in the Box restaurant for doing
too good an impression of the chain's mascot character as patrons used the drive-thru window.
"My manager didn't think it was very funny.
He told me to go home and never come back."
“Wow.
Fired from Jack in the Box?”
"Fired for being in character!”
This, of course, proved early on that he had a knack for voicing kooky clowns - a skill
that would come in handy a couple decades down the line.
Though Luke Skywalker was his breakout role, Hamill had actually been acting since at least
1963, when he took on a small role in the wildly popular soap opera General Hospital.
He continued to have brief on-screen roles in TV hits of the day, including The Bill
Cosby Show and The Partridge Family.
Things went on in this fashion for some time, with Hamill finally landing a few recurring
characters on The New Scooby-Doo Movies, Jeannie, and The Texas Wheelers.
So while he wasn't on the fast track to stardom right upon his arrival in Los Angeles, he
was certainly putting in the work and building up a substantial portfolio, something he could
present to George Lucas to seal his fate for the rest of his life.
Luke Skywalker was a lucky break, but Hamill was a hard-working kid, proving that destiny
isn't the only factor in achieving stardom.
In order to combat the typecasting that would inevitably result from his portrayal as the
wide-eyed, young hero of destiny Luke Skywalker, Hamill branched out into other forms of acting.
First, as many young actors do, he spent a brief stint in the early '80s working in Broadway
plays like The Elephant Man and Amadeus.
He followed this endeavor with a dive headfirst into voice acting.
As noted earlier, his penchant for impressions and silly voices would only aid him further
in his career.
His keen interest in comic books helped to land him the role of the Joker in the beloved
cartoon Batman: The Animated Series, but Hamill has done work outside cartoons as well, diving
into the video game industry as a voice artist.
"Surprise!
You fell for the old sick Joker gag, Batman!"
Naturally, some of these roles are reprisals of his work in the Star Wars and Batman franchises,
but his first video game voice opportunity came in 1993, in the mystery thriller
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers.
He's portrayed characters in several sci-fi military-themed games, like the Wing Commander
series, and one wonders if he was able to pull from his experience growing up on naval bases.
It's no secret that Hamill is a comic book fan - and thank goodness, too, considering
he appears at one comic convention after another to the delight of his adoring fans.
But Hamill has also had a hand in writing some comics of his own.
In the mid-'90s, right before the Star Wars prequel films, Hamill co-authored
The Black Pearl with his cousin Eric Johnson.
The comic, featuring art by H.M. Baker and published by Dark Horse, was a five-issue
series intended to be collected into one volume at the end of its run.
It follows Luther Drake, who inadvertently prevents an abduction and continues to pursue
a life of nighttime vigilantism.
Sounds a bit like Batman, doesn't it?
But it's the post-Frank Miller type of Batman, dark and conflicted and morally ambiguous.
The comic was originally written as a screenplay, and as recently as 2010, Hamill still had
intentions to see this dark vision brought to life onscreen with himself in the director's chair.
While part of Hamill's online presence is populated by his political thoughts, he's
also dedicated a decent chunk of it to interacting with fans.
He continues to have the most delightful knack for self-deprecating humor and a genuine gratitude
for the fans who have supported him from the beginning - or even those newer fans who have
come to Star Wars with the newest installments of the franchise.
He spends a lot of his tweeting energy singing the praises of his fellow actors, promoting
Star Wars-related news, and sharing stories of his friendships with the likes of the late,
adored Carrie Fisher.
Hamill is a savvy Twitter user, in other words.
Social media certainly has its problems, but with 3.2 million followers, it's safe to say
the Force is with him when it comes to interacting with his audience.
Hamill has been married to his wife, dental hygienist Marilou York, since 1978, not long
after the release of A New Hope.
The couple have three children and one grandchild, and seem to have successfully avoided a lot
of the typical drama that Hollywood couples tend to fall into.
Hamill and York's long, happy marriage is often attributed to York's lack of celebrity.
They broke up for a period so Hamill could get the rush of stardom out of his system,
but in the end, family and stability won out.
By marrying a non-celebrity, Hamill wasn't competing with all of Hollywood's other leading
men, and he married her not for her star power or her paparazzi appeal, but because they
had a genuine connection.
No doubt the two have worked very hard at keeping their relationship alive, but it is
clear that they still love each other very much, and it is gratifying to see such a healthy
marriage flourish even as Hamill has returned to the Hollywood limelight with the final
installments of the Star Wars franchise's Skywalker saga.
Despite the concerns about being typecast, Hamill has done an excellent job of proving
he can have a satisfying and successful career outside Star Wars.
So as the torch is passed from Luke to Rey, we see Hamill continuing in much the same
manner as usual.
He dons the animated white face of the Joker time and again in various new animated DC
series, and makes guest appearances on TV series like The Big Bang Theory.
"Hi."
"I'm gonna need a minute."
But some roles and projects stand out more than others.
He put his villainous voice to good use as the devious doll Chucky in the 2019 film Child's
Play before taking the role of the Scientist in The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, the
long-hyped prequel to Jim Henson's 1982 cult classic puppet-fueled fantasia.
Continuing his long appreciation for the comics medium, he's also taken a role in Amazon's
adaptation of Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker, and Ryan Ottley's Invincible, which chronicles
the life of the son of a superhero.
Still in the spotlight after all these years, Mark Hamill has proven he has the talent to
tackle a wide variety of roles - and we can't wait to see what he does next.
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