Biography
Mark was born in Streator, Illinois but moved to the Netherlands when he was 6 with his family. From a young age Mark displayed an affinity for music, and as a teenager, Mark played in several bands and began his career in the music industry . At twenty three, he moved back to the United states and enrolled in a one year program at the College for Recording Arts in San Francisco. Upon graduation, he started interning at the world renowned Plant Studios in Sausalito, where he soon was hired as a staff assistant engineer. Mark also started producing local bands, which resulted in a platinum record for engineering the "4 Non Blondes" hit single "What's up". During a trip to Vancouver, BC, Mark met his wife Peggy resulting in his decision to relocate there. It was in Vancouver where he was introduced to audio post production for film and TV which sparked a new interest. Within a few years he was hired as staff Re-Recording mixer at one of the top studios in Vancouver "Post Modern Sound". His work there resulted in 8 Canadian sound Award Nominations and 3 wins.
In 2008 Mark decided to push his career further, and moved to Los Angeles. Since his move to LA he has been nominated for 3 CAS awards and 3 Emmys. He won an Emmy in 2018 for his work as Lead Re-Recording Mixer on Genius: Picasso.
In 2016 Mark produced a short film written by his wife Peggy. Unhappy with the final product, the project was shelved. Two years later, Mark had an idea for another short film which his wife then turned into a script. Mark made the decision to direct it himself and budgetary constraints forced mark to learn how to edit picture as well. The film went on to be accepted into numerous festivals around the world, which resulted in a distribution deal from a European distributor.
Building on his new career path, Mark then went back and tackled the previously shelved short, completing a well received re-edit, that played at several short film festivals, and won Best film at the American Golden Picture International Film Festival Jacksonville, Florida.
At the same time Peggy and Mark had been busy producing a musical that they created together called "London Calling" inspired by music of "The Clash". With no previous theater experience at all, Mark set out producing the musical with a twelve person cast, four dancers and nineteen songs that had to be re-recorded. It premiered at the Hollywood Fringe festival in 2017, and was an instant hit. In 2018 Mark shared the script with the owner of Origin Theatrical in Australia whom immediately offered an option agreement catapulting the musical to the big stage.
Continuing the momentum, Mark was asked to produce a run of the stage play "A Christmas Present". Which he did. The writer requested he tape one of the performances, and after thinking about it, Mark suggested to simply turn it into a movie. To prepare for the task of making a movie, Mark sourced cameras and equipment and directed another couple of short films. Between the summer of 2019 and 2020, Mark directed 4 music videos, and 4 short films. "The Last Hit", a short based on the Stephen King story "The Man Who Loved Flowers", Senior moment" and "21 Days in". He starts directing "The Christmas Present" in July.
Mark is also committed in the new year to producing another stage production of a new musical written by Peggy Lewis called "Irena Palm". It is an adaptation of the movie of the same name that starred Marianne Faithfull and was written by Philip Blasband.
6 wins and 13 nominations
