mark hamill

Mark Hamill was born in Oakland, California, in 1951, into a large Catholic family, he is the fourth of seven children, five boys and two girls. Although he could have been born in another city, or even in Japan, since his father, with ancestors in the United Kingdom, was a captain in the American Navy, and the varied destinations forced the family to move on various occasions. According to the future actor, his father was very demanding in everything that refers to his education, and he had doubts about the artistic vein that would lead him to dedicate himself to acting; On the other hand, his mother, with Swedish roots, was more flexible. It would be at Los Angeles City College where Hamill would pursue dramatic studies. But already in Japan, at the Yokohama Institute, he took a liking to the theater, and received wise advice from Jack Burrill.

His acting beginnings took place in the television world. Mark Hamill had his first role of a certain entity in General Hospital in 1972, but before that he would have small appearances in other very popular series such as The Bill Cosby Show or Cannon . And he would begin, a true specialization, to put voices in cartoon series, starting with Jeannie . His foot was in, and other shows like Boys’ Things or The streets of San Francisco arrived . He even did the pilot for Eight Is Enough , playing the eldest son of a family even larger than his own.

And then came the carambola. There was nothing foreshadowing that this old-fashioned science fiction adventure film, directed by an enthusiastic and bearded young man named George Lucas , was going to revolutionize Hollywood as few films have. Star Wars (1977) was a bombshell, and Mark Hamill was perfect for playing the young dreamer who wants to leave his boring home to live a thousand and one adventures, rescuing princesses and fighting imperial villains. The role came to him thanks to his friend Robert Englund , from A Nightmare on Elm Street, who saw that next to the set where he was working they were doing tests for a character that, he thought, would come in handy for Mark. And indeed, Englund was right with his vision, and Mark Hamill was part of the trio that also included Carrie Fisher and Harrison FordIn other words, Princess Leia and Han Solo, who saw their careers and public notoriety change radically overnight. Interestingly, only Ford carved out a career as an undeniable star, the other two didn’t do as badly, but Fisher was weighed down by his strong personality and addictions, while Hamill adjusted to hard work and mostly lackluster work. . Where he shone, of course, was at fan conventions, after all he had managed to destroy the Death Star by relying on the force.

The legendary success of the film led to the following of two other titles, episodes V and VI together with the original that was IV, of a trilogy that was delirium. The Empire Strikes Back (1980) allowed us to see Luke seriously training as a Jedi under Yoda’s tutelage, in what many consider the best film in the saga, with a solid script by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan . Then it would come, great auction despite the ewoks, Return of the Jedi (1983). The revelations about Luke’s father and sister would make history.

Nothing of what he did afterwards presents the overwhelming force of this galactic trilogy, which is why the return to Star Wars in a third trilogy with his companions of yesteryear, by the hand of Walt Disney and now without the command of George Lucas, was quite a hoot, although in The Awakening of the Force (2015) he was seen only fleetingly, everyone knew that he was the appetizer for The Last Jedi (2017).

In any case, Hamill has known how to fight with the dark side of Skywalker’s fame that prevented him from being Mozart in Milos Forman ‘s Amadeus , despite having played the character in the theater, it was thought that the public could not accept him as the brilliant composer from Salzburg. He was in a legendary Samuel Fuller war film , Red One: Shock Division (1980). And he took giant steps in theater, with works like “The Elephant Man”, in addition to continuing his gratifying task of giving voice to cartoons and later video games, where the English-speaking public considers him a classic for giving voice to the arch-villain of Batman. joker. An idea of ​​his generosity is given by his statements that no one had made a better Joker thanHeath Ledger in The Dark Knight . The list of animated series and games in which he has participated is endless, but his intervention in Wing Commander stands out, and both Marvel and DC do not hesitate to turn to him for their television animation comics.

In television series with live-action actors, he appeared in individual episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Amazing Stories . He clearly liked series B, and so, without his rings falling off, he made films like Fury of the Wind (1989), Panic on the Asphalt (1990), Haunted by his Past (1993), Looking for the Perfect Woman (1994) or The Town of the Damned (1995), John Carpenter ‘s remake of the 1960 classic.

A regular on social media and a regular attendee at Comic-Con conventions for graphic novel freaks, he himself has made his first steps in this field. But compared to the somewhat naughty image that he likes to cultivate, he leads a fairly quiet life. He met the love of his life in 1978, dental hygienist Marilou York, who bore him three children, one of whom has already made him a grandfather.

Everyone likes him, but there are people who connect especially well with him, like Kevin Smith , who wanted him in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001). Lately he has been seen in a big blockbuster like Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), but that does not prevent him from signing up for an indie film like Brigsby Bear (2017). Although perhaps where he will have the most opportunity to attract attention is in Con Man (2018), a film based on real events about a swindling banker, Robert Minkow, where he is the protagonist giving life to this controversial character.