Mark Hamill

Mark Hamill

Mark Hamill (born September 25, 1951) is an American actor, voice artist, producer, director, and writer who is best known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the voice of The Joker in the DC animated universe. He was also one of the original actors who auditioned to play the title character of Invader Zim.

Biography

Hamill was born and raised in Oakland, California as the son of Virginia Suzanne and William Thomas Hamill, who was a captain in the U.S. Navy. He was one of seven children: two brothers, Will and Patrick, and four sisters, Terry, Jan, Jeanie, and Kim. As a child, his father's career meant several relocations, as he moves from school to school when he was a child. In his elementary years, he went to Poe Middle School, then for 10th grade, he attended Annandale High School located in Annandale, Virginia, but eventually ended up graduating from Nile C. Kinnick High School located in Yokosuka, Japan. He majored in drama at Los Angeles City College.

Invader Zim

Hamill was one of the two original voice actors to whom creator Jhonen Vasquez offered the voice Zim (the other being Billy West). However, in the end, both West and Hamill were rejected due to their voices being too well-known (mainly because of West voicing Fry in Futurama and of Hamill's iconic portrayal of the Joker). This resulted in Zim being voiced by the lesser-known Richard Steven Horvitz.