Mark Hamill receives star today on Hollywood Walk of Fame
Mark Hamill, who will forever be connected to his on-screen character Luke Skywalker from the Star Wars universe, received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame today.
The 66-year-old actor thanked Star Wars creator George Lucas for his career. “I do really want to thank George Lucas. If it wasn’t for the genius of George Lucas, I wouldn’t be standing here today,” Hamill said.
Lucas and Star Wars co-star Harrison Ford introduced Hamill to the mob of fans who showed up to watch the brief ceremony.
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“Mark Hamill is a character that can’t be written,” Lucas said. “He is extremely enthusiastic about everything he does and that’s exactly what I was looking for when I was looking for Luke Skywalker.”
“I prepared myself for this experience by going back and looking at the screen-test I did with Mark, and I was surprised, actually, how good he was,” Ford, who played Han Solo, joked.
“He’s a friend I don’t see very often. Our lives have diverged, but he has been the master of his own experience and his own life.”
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“I was really sorry, we don’t have the other member of our trio to celebrate with,” Ford said, referring to Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia in the Star Wars films and passed away in December 2017.
Hamill took the podium briefly. “I haven’t been this speechless since, “(Star Wars:) The Force Awakens,” he joked about his brief appearance at the end of the film where he did not have one word of dialogue.
Hamill went on to thank both Lucas and Ford and said how lucky he feels he is for doing the things “I did when I was a kid as an adult” and making money doing it.
Born in Oakland, California, Hamill was discovered in a workshop musical comedy called Anthems in E-Flat Calliope the summer before becoming a theatre arts major at Los Angeles City College.
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For six years he did guest appearances on multiple TV series and television movies, including a nine-month stretch on General Hospital and a starring role on the critically-acclaimed comedy The Texas Wheelers. His first feature film was in “Star Wars” as Luke Skywalker.
His film credits include “Corvette Summer,” Samuel Fuller’s “The Big Red One,” “Slipstream,” “Walking Across Egypt,” “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back”, “Sushi Girl,” “Kingsman: The Secret Service” and the upcoming “Brisby Bear.” Hamill also directed and starred in the cult mockumentary Comic Book: The Movie.
On Broadway, Hamill’s credits include “The Elephant Man,” “Amadeus, Michael Stewart’s “Harrigan n’ Hart,” “The Nerd,” “Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks” and the Roundabout Theatre production of “Room Service.”
He is a prolific voice-over artist and has performed in numerous animated series and is best known for voicing the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series.
