Mark Richard Hamill (born September 25, 1951) is an American stage, screen and voice actor. He is known for playing Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars film series and for his voice-over work in animations and video games as the Joker, beginning with Batman: The Animated Series in 1992. Hamill has acted in several theater productions, including The Elephant Man, and is the cowriter of The Black Pearl comic book miniseries.
Hamill was born in Oakland, California, to Virginia Suzanne (née Johnson) and U.S. Navy Captain William Thomas Hamill. He is one of seven children, having two brothers, Will and Patrick, and four sisters, Terry, Jan, Jeanie, and Kim. His father has English, Scottish, Irish, and Welsh ancestry and his mother was of half Swedish and half English descent. His father's changes of station and attendant family moves led to the Hamill children changing 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.