Mark-Paul Gosselaar was born March 1, 1974 in Panorama City, California. His father, Hans Gosselaar, who is from the Netherlands, is of German and Dutch Jewish descent, and was a plant supervisor at Anheuser-Busch. His mother, Paula (van den Brink), is of Dutch-Indonesian background; she worked as an airline hostess. His parents are divorced. He has an older brother, Mike, and two older sisters, Linda and Sylvia. In 1989, after a career with small movies and commercials, Gosselaar started in the teen hit
Saved by the Bell (1989), co-starring
Tiffani Thiessen who played his girlfriend, Kelly Kapowski, throughout the show's run. The characters eventually married each other after the show and its spin-off,
Saved by the Bell: The College Years (1993) , ended production.
He starred with
Geena Davis in
Commander in Chief (2005) for executive producer
Steven Bochco, with whom he also worked when he starred as detective John Clark in Bochco's critically-acclaimed drama
NYPD Blue (1993) Gosselaar's other television credits include TV movies
Atomic Twister (2002),
The Princess & the Marine (2001),
For the Love of Nancy (1994),
Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas (1994),
She Cried No (1996),
Dying to Belong (1997) and
Born Into Exile (1997).
On the big screen, Gosselaar appeared in
Dead Man on Campus (1998), as well as the independent films
Beer Money (2001) and
Sticks and Stones (2008).
In 2019, Mark-Paul began starring on the show
Mixed-ish (2019). He returned in a supporting role for the revival
Saved by the Bell (2020), with
Mitchell Hoog as his son.
Gosselaar's sporting interests include cycling, motocross and auto racing. He is also an avid pilot. Gosselaar lives outside of Los Angeles. He married model
Lisa Ann Russell in 1996 in Maui, Hawaii. The two divorced in 2011. In 2012, he married advertising executive Catriona McGinn. He has two children with Lisa and two children with Catriona.