Mark Richard Hamill was born in Oakland, California, to Virginia Suzanne (Johnson) and William Thomas Hamill, a captain in the United States Navy. He grew up in California, Virginia, New York and Japan. He majored in drama at Los Angeles City College and made his acting debut on The Bill Cosby Show (1969) in 1970. He played a continuing role (Kent Murray) in the soap opera Hôpital central (1963) and co-starred in the respected comedy series The Texas Wheelers (1974). Real fame came with his film debut (he was voice only in Wizards (1977)) with the hero role of Luke Skywalker in La guerre des étoiles (1977), L'empire contre-attaque (1980) and Le retour du Jedi (1983). He experienced a disfiguring car crash, but later played in Broadway, returning to film in 1989. During the 1990s, he became best known for providing the voice of the Joker on Batman: The Animated Series (1992).
