Bio
Mark Deklin is an American actor and fight director who has appeared in television series such as Big Love, Nip/Tuck, Desperate Housewives, CSI, Life On Mars, Better Off Ted, The Ex List, Justice, Las Vegas, Sex and the City, Frasier, Charmed, Ed and Shark.
He also starred as Blake Reilly on the short-lived comedy-drama television series GCB, in 2012.
Mark grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he divided most of his free time between theatre, sports and music - and as an undergraduate at Penn State, he remained actively involved with all three.
He was determined, however, not to pursue any of them professionally, and he received his B.A. in English and History.
Upon graduating he traveled extensively, working at a variety of odd jobs to pay his way (Greenpeace right after college, and a summer on the Cape Cod & Hyannis Railroad - other odd jobs included art/rare book dealer, construction worker, and, briefly, jazz pianist at a bar in Vienna, Austria) before heading to Bloomington, Indiana to teach freshman composition and earn his M.A. in English Literature from Indiana University... all the while still taking acting classes and doing local theatre, just for fun.
Finally, though, he stopped kidding himself, dropped out of graduate school and moved to Seattle to join its then-burgeoning theatre community (and rising grunge-rock scene), where he eventually earned his M.F.A. from the University of Washington's highly esteemed PATP conservatory, as well as his union cards and a certification with the Society of American Fight Directors.
He stayed on the west coast for a few more years, working primarily in Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco (not only as an actor, but also as a fight director and a sound designer), and then moved back east to New York, where he continued to establish himself both as an actor and a fight director for nearly a decade.
His many television credits have included Lone Star, Hot in Cleveland, Hawaii Five-O, Desperate Housewives, Life On Mars, The Mentalist, Two and a Half Men, Big Love, Nip/Tuck, The Ex List, Shark, Sex & the City, Justice, CSI: NY, Frasier, Las Vegas, CSI: Miami, Nathan's Choice, Hot Properties, Charmed, Four Kings, One on One, Pandora's Clock, Nash Bridges, and Ed, as well as PBS' Great Performances.
Among his commercial appearances, he is perhaps most recognizable as the sagacious, environmentally-friendly Subaru Guy (he was also once offered a lucrative Marlboro Man billboard campaign, which he turned down because it didn't sit right with him - even though he was a smoker at the time).
His Broadway and Off-Broadway credits have included Cyrano de Bergerac (with Kevin Kline and Jennifer Garner), Sweet Smell of Success (with John Lithgow), The Lion King (Scar), Arms & the Man, As You Like It, Macbeth (title role), Six-Six-Sixty, Measure for Measure, Tallulah Hallelujah, The Alchemist, and Home of the Brave.
He has worked at regional theatres across America, performing a wide range of roles in such plays as Othello, Hay Fever, Snakebit, An Ideal Husband, Romeo & Juliet, The Big Slam, Coriolanus, Love! Valour! Compassion!, Freewill and Wanton Lust, Troilus & Cressida, Born Yesterday, and The Taming of the Shrew.
His body of film work has included Mini's First Time, Riverworld, Herbie Fully Loaded, Forced Alliance, Out of Body, The Wish List, Phantom Below, Caller ID, Wetting the Ashes, Twin Set, Only Slightly, A Little Cloud, and Never Say Macbeth.
Mark is adopted, and several years ago he searched for and found his birth-mother; today he enjoys a wonderful relationship with both his adoptive and biological families (in fact, his full, legal last name is Deklin-Schwotzer, which he briefly used professionally until it proved too much of a mouthful for most people to spell and pronounce).
He currently lives in Los Angeles, and part-time in New York, with his wife, Jamie, and their dogs, Zoe and Oscar - and their daughter, Kylie.