Mark Hamill was once fired from Jack in the Box for doing funny impersonations at the drive-thru window

• Mark Hamill used to work at Jack in the Box before his big break on "Star Wars." 
• Hamill told Insider he was fired for doing funny impersonations at the drive-thru window. 
• He's joined forces with the chain again to celebrate its spicy chicken strips and french toast sticks.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away (or a wild place called Los Angeles), Mark Hamill was a struggling actor working at a Jack in the Box drive-thru window. 

The future Luke Skywalker practiced his impersonations while taking customers' orders — which is why he quickly got fired. 

More than 50 years later, Hamill is back at Jack in the Box to celebrate the return of spicy chicken strips and french toast sticks — two of his favorite menu items. 

Hamill recently sat down with Insider to share more about his former Jack in the Box days, and reveal how the job helped him prepare for his successful career in Hollywood. 

Before landing his big break on "Star Wars," Hamill was a theater arts major at Los Angeles City College. 

The 18-year-old needed a job, so he wandered into a nearby Jack in the Box and got hired on the spot. 

"I had worked at another fast-food place when I was like 16, so I knew the routine," Hamill told Insider. "I made shakes, I worked the grill, but I always aspired to work that takeout window." 

"I wanted to interact with the public, and I loved the idea of speaking for the clown-mouth speaker," he added. 

An actor through and through, Hamill said it never occurred to him to use his everyday voice at the drive-thru window. But his impersonations got him fired just a month after he first started at Jack in the Box. 

"I thought you should talk like a clown, which is what I did," Hamill recalled with a laugh. "I thought it was amusing — my boss thought it was annoying." 

"My boss told me to stop, which I did," he added. "But when the work day was finished he said, 'You know what Mark, if you can't take this job seriously, maybe this isn't right for you.' In other words, go and never come back." 

That would've been the end of Hamill's Jack in the Box story if it wasn't for a 2019 appearance on "The Late Late Show with James Corden." 

Hamill was on the show alongside Bradley Whitford, who revealed that he had once been the actor's waiter. Whitford thanked Hamill for tipping "like a banshee," which prompted Hamill to share his Jack in the Box origin story. 

Nearly three years after that appearance, Jack in the Box contacted Hamill and asked to join forces again. Hamill returned to his spot at the Jack in the Box drive-thru menu and filmed a commercial to celebrate the chain's spicy chicken strips and french toast sticks.

"The funny thing is we're bringing these back for a limited time, we're also bringing back Mark Hamill for a limited time!" he said. 

Also a fan of the chain's onion rings and tacos — just like Selena Gomez — Hamill said it's been incredible to see how much Jack in the Box's menu has expanded since he worked there in 1969. 

And while his first job at Jack in the Box was extremely brief, Hamill's still grateful for the life lessons that it taught him. 

"Every job that you have in life prepares you for where you're headed, so I'd like to think it adds some element in what I did down the road," he said. "Perseverance, doubling down when there are setbacks, doing the right things for the right reasons — hopefully you bring all of that into whatever you do."