Isn’t it interesting how fate can just place you in the right place at the right time for you to move forward on your destined path. Even if you don’t believe in all that it is still pretty cool how a carpenter who had no desire to be an actor (as far as he knows) was in the right place at the right time when a cast member in a movie he was building sets for dropped out and he was then chosen as the replacement. Stranger things have happened – perhaps.
Mark Child, yes, another of those great Aussie actors to grace our shores, was managing the set construction on the Isobel & The Patissier, when his life took a turn into a more creative, cerebral and emotionally expressive direction. When one of the actors dropped out, Mark was invited to join the cast and take over that role in the film. That serendipitous moment changed everything for Mark and fortunately he recognized that acting and not carpentry was his passion and his calling.
After the highly praised and award-winning film was completed, Mark enrolled at NIDA, the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney, Australia to immerse himself in acting studies. By the end of his year there Mark was cast as Charlie Stanford in the film Dreamstitching. That film, by the way, has been selected to participate in numerous prestigious film festivals around the world, which spurred Mark into moving to Los Angeles to further pursue his film career.
Los Angeles proved to be just the right decision for this Australian thespian. In the short time he’s planted roots on the California coast, he has worked on some huge productions and with some very big names in the movie industry. He was a stuntman in the mega-hit Fury, starring Brad Pitt, Shia LeBeouf, Michael Pena and directed by David Ayer. He also played a trooper in For All Eyes Always, had a role in the Discovery channel production of Murderbook, and played a lead in the Devi Burle directed film The Turning.
Mark still dabbles in carpentry and is a very handy man, but the entertainment business is his passion nowadays. He has a number of his own projects on the drawing board and he recently was a triple-threat by acting in, writing and directing the film, The Silent Peace.
