Few could deny Mark has been fortunate in his career. His first agent
signed him without a SAG card and three months later Mark booked his
first national spot for McDonald's. That began a long run of national
spots for products such as Folger's Coffee, Irish Spring, Tartar
Control Crest, American Airlines, and many, many more. On the episodic
side of television he's worked with some of the best of the best in
Hollywood: James Arness, Bruce Boxleitner, Ron Leibman, Patrick O'Neal,
Dick O'Neil, Jamie Lee Curtis, John Forsythe, Ted Danson, Robyn Wright,
Diedre Hall, Kelsey Grammer, and Craig T. Nelson to name only a few.
Whether he was playing football on an NCAA scholarship at Penn State,
offering up a sermon at his local church, or learning the ins-and-outs
of acting, Mark always brought his own personal intensity and passion
to whatever he did. The years he's been working as an actor have only
served to deepen his passion and appreciation for acting in particular,
and life in general. Many things have caught his attention and stayed
in his life, cooking Chinese food, stock cars on quarter-mile dirt
tracks, flying, and writing country songs and singing them in the
shower. But acting is his true passion.
Sometimes it's neither passion nor talent that does the trick.
Sometimes, it's the little things. As when Mark was cast in the 100th
Anniversary spot for Disneyworld directed by Academy Award-winning
director John Madden, by being able to sing the Mickey
Mouse Cartoon Time theme song when no one else could.
In his private life, when not in front of the lens or onstage Mark is
known to be an avid lover of the holidays. One of his crowing
achievements was keeping his living Christmas tree up past Valentines
Day. He is a self-proclaimed Battlestar Galactica aficionado, and has
taken to using "frakk" exclusively, in lieu of its expletive
counterpart much to the chagrin of his daughter. He truly believes that
Arron Sorkin's dialogue is as close to Shakespeare as any modern actor
will ever get this side of actually doing Shakespeare. When asked who
his role models are his first response is Joseph Cotton. But since few
people younger than he is knows anything about Early Hollywood, the
Mercury Players, or Joseph Cotton, he usually says, "William Shatner"
and leaves it at that.