Mark Frankel
Just The Facts
Full Length Bio
Mark was born on June 13, 1962 in London, England. Mark started acting in the theater when he was 10 years old. At age 16, he stopped acting to focus on his studies at school. But acting was in Mark's blood and at age 20, he returned to acting. He studied at the Actors Studio in New York. Mark decided to attend drama school for classical training. He was awarded a full three-year scholarship to one of the top drama schools in England, London's prestigious Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Arts. While performing on-stage, he was spotted by a British casting agent and cast in the TNT mini-series A Season of Giants, winning the lead role of Michelangelo. The mini-series took Frankel on location to Italy, where he spent five months filming and working with F. Murray Abraham, John Glover, Ian Holm, and Steven Berkoff. Next, Frankel appeared in TNT's Young Catherine playing the role of Count Orlov and starring opposite acting legends Vanessa Redgrave, Christopher Plummer, Franco Nero, and Maximillan Schell. Catherine was played by Julia Ormond. During filming of Young Catherine, tragedy struck. His older brother, Joe was killed in a mid-air collision between two small planes. Mark and Joe used to perform aerial stunts and skydiving tricks together. Mark finally burst on to the European silver screen in 1992 with the title role in the film "Leon the Pig Farmer". The film won the Critics Award at the Venice Film Festival and the Charlie Chaplin Award at the Edinburgh Film Festival that same year. Mark decided to go to Hollywood. He had been in Hollywood for about ten days, when his manager set up some meetings for him, one of them being with the casting director of the popular TV show "Sisters". He was offered a recurring role, which he initially declined. He did not want the commitment of a regular TV series; he wanted the freedom to pursue other opportunities. However, the producers continued to pursue him, and he eventually accepted. Next, in 1994, Mark won the lead role in the short-lived TV-series "Fortune Hunter". He also had a guest appearance in the "Ruth Rendell Mysteries", in the episode Vanity Dies Hard. In 1995, Mark appeared in the feature film "Solitaire for Two" with Amanda Pays. He also had a guest appearance on "Claire de Lune". Mark won yet another lead role for the series "Kindred: The Embraced" in 1996. The series was a mid-season replacement and garnered a cult following but was not picked up for the fall schedule. After "Kindred: The Embraced" finished filming, Mark went to work on the feature film "For Roseanna" with Jean Reno and Mercedes Ruehl. Mark would never see this film be released though. Mark was an avid motorcyclist and he was especially proud of his yellow Harley Davidson, one of only six in the world. On September 25, 1996 Mark was riding his prize motorcycle when he had a fatal accident. Film and Television Appearances Family Life Mark married French advertising account executive Caroline Besson in 1991. In 1994 they had their first child, a boy they named Fabien. Caroline was pregnant with their second child when Mark had his fatal accident.
If any of you Mark fans out there have any awesome photos of Mark, I would appreciate you sending them to me. Just go to my main page and E-Mail the photo to me. Thanks, much. The Kat.
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