Nathan Hamill

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 and Poe Middle School. 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, his family moved 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.

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 required plastic surgery on his face. For 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.

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 first did voice acting work in the early 1970s voicing the character Corey Anders on the Saturday morning cartoon Jeannie by Hanna-Barbera Productions. He later played Sean in the Ralph Bakshi film Wizards, which was released just three months before Star Wars in 1977.

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. According to Hamill in a recorded interview, he was driving his BMW on a freeway, became distracted, and seeing that he was missing his offramp, attempted to negotiate four lanes of traffic. Hamill later said that the stories surrounding his injuries had become exaggerated. Confirming that he had only broken his nose, Hamill observed that "over the years it's [been] built up into having my face reconstructed with plastic surgery."

After the success of Star Wars, Hamill found that audiences identified him very closely with the role of Luke Skywalker, after which he became a teen idol and appeared on teen magazine covers such as Tiger Beat and others. He attempted to avoid typecasting by appearing in the 1978 film Corvette Summer and the better-known 1980 World War II film The Big Red One. In 1980, he also 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 along with him on a search for Chewbacca. Other film appearances around this time include The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia in 1981 and Britannia Hospital in 1982. To further distance 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 to film in 1984, Hamill auditioned to reprise the role for 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". He made television appearances in a 1986 episode of Amazing Stories and a 1987 episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

On December 17, 1978, Hamill married dental hygienist Marilou York in a private civil ceremony. They have three children: Nathan Elias (born June 1979), Griffin Tobias (born March 1983), and Chelsea Elizabeth (born July 1988). 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 kids have cameos as Resistance soldiers in The Last Jedi.

He guest starred in The Simpsons episode "Mayored to the Mob" as himself. On the audio commentary of the episode, he says that he has been a fan of the show since it debuted in 1987 on The Tracy Ullman Show and that it was a personal thrill to work with Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Homer Simpson. He has also guest starred in Family Guy and was also a recurring voice actor on Seth Green's Robot Chicken.

Hamill returned to film after a six-year hiatus with the 1989 science fiction film Slipstream. He continued to star in films throughout the 1990s, including in such films as the thriller Midnight Ride, The Guyver in 1991, the 1995 remake of Village of the Damned, and the 1998 Swedish action film Hamilton. Hamill appeared in the 2001 film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back as the supervillain Cocknocker, a role which parodies both himself and roles he has played in the past.

Hamill's role as the Joker began in the 1992 series Batman: The Animated Series and continued to many later spin-off series, video games and films. Hamill received critical acclaim for his performance, which put him in high demand as a voice-over actor of cartoon villains.

Hamill also voiced the Joker in three episodes of Superman: The Animated Series, five episodes of The New Batman Adventures, five episodes of Justice League, an episode of Static Shock and a few segments in Robot Chicken. He also voiced the Joker in the 1993 theatrical film Batman: Mask of the Phantasm and the 2000 direct-to-video film Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.

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

When the Wing Commander series of computer games started using 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 as the production moved on to Broadway.

Hamill also directed and starred in the 2004 direct-to-DVD Comic Book: The Movie. A comic book fan who attended science fiction and comic conventions before he became famous, Hamill 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.

Hamill voiced the Joker alongside his Batman: The Animated Series co-star Kevin Conroy as Batman and Jason Hillhouse as Dick Grayson in a feature of a storyboard scene included in the 2005 Special Edition DVD of Tim Burton's 1989 film Batman. This scene depicted the origin of Robin, which was not filmed because the producers felt it was out-of-place with the rest of the film.

In 2009, Hamill voiced Elder Orin in Battle for Terra. He also narrated the 2017 science fiction TV series Dimension 404.

Hamill has portrayed the Joker in a few Batman-themed video games, beginning with 2001's Batman Vengeance, the Sega CD version of The Adventures of Batman & Robin (which was later used to create a "lost" episode of the animated series) and in Batman: Arkham Asylum. Hamill again reprised the role in the Arkham sequel, Batman: Arkham City. In May 2010, Hamill declared to IGN UK that his role in Arkham City would be his last as the Joker. Some months later, with the announcement of Arkham City, he clarified his statements in the interview by saying, via his Twitter account, "Only said Arkham Asylum would be hard to top, not that I was quitting." On October 19, 2011, shortly after the release of the game, Hamill announced his retirement on his Twitter account, saying "Hello/Goodbye Joker! I've enjoyed every minute behind the wheel of the Clown Prince's crazy car – I'm going to miss him more than I can say!!". In June 2012, WB Games released the expansion pack titled "The Last Laugh" for the video game DC Universe Online, featuring Hamill as the Joker. In 2015, Hamill yet again returned as the Joker in Batman: Arkham Knight with the character recurring through the game as a hallucination.

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

During a 2011 Comic-Con, when asked about Heath Ledger's Oscar-winning portrayal of the character in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, Hamill claimed that it was the most original performance that he had ever seen since Anthony Hopkins' Oscar-winning portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs.

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.

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. In addition, he reprised his role as the Trickster on The CW's 2014 live-action series The Flash, in the seventeenth episode of the first season, the ninth episode of the second season, and the ninth episode of the third season.

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 has commented that if there would ever be an animated version of Batman: The Killing Joke, he would gladly voice the Joker again, encouraging fans to campaign for said adaptation. On July 17, 2015, Hamill tweeted that he had his fingers crossed in hopes that he would be contacted to reprise his role as the Joker in the animated adaptation. On July 27, Collider reported that Hamill would voice the Joker in the film. The film was released in theaters for a two-day limited time. It was released on Digital HD on July 27, 2016. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray on August 2. Positive reception was met for Hamill's performance as the Joker, with some citing it as his best performance of the character.

Hamill is an outspoken member of the Democratic Party. Prior to the 2012 election for the presidency of the United States, Hamill referred to Mitt Romney as a "snake oil salesman". In 2016, he endorsed P.G. Sittenfeld's candidacy in the 2016 election for the United States Senate. He has also criticized the tweets of Donald Trump by reading them out in his Joker voice.

Hamill is a lifelong fan of Laurel and Hardy. In June 2016, he called into The Ross Owen Show on Black Sky Radio to talk for over an hour about his passion for Stan and Ollie. He 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.

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 for the last time in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

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

He became a supporter of English football club Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. in 2017.

In December 2017, Hamill became an affiliate member of the Royal Society of Chemistry, having had an interest in the science since childhood.

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

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

In 2019, Hamill voiced the character Chucky in the Child's Play remake and the Skeksis scientist skekTek in The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, a web television prequel series to the 1982 Jim Henson film The Dark Crystal. In 2020 Hamill signed on to co-star in the animated adaptation of Robert Kirkman's Invincible series.