Mark Joy's Biography

As a boy Mark attended many a community play in Des Moines, Iowa. His father Ralph was an actor and drama teacher there. Those childhood times were the seeds of inspiration for Mark’s work in film today. But after playing Cyrano De Bergerac to capacity college audiences and standing ovations in1971, Mark took an unplanned detour from acting and would not return to performance until 1985, when he was asked by a stranger if he had ever considered “acting in movies”. Since then, Mark has made his living in front of cameras and microphones.

Mark has lived and worked in NY and LA but has always preferred the Virginia lifestyle, where he has been an active member of the East Coast film community for over 23 years. His credits include co-starring roles in many films including “Black Rainbow”, “Pecker”, “Dogma”, “Perfect Daughter”, The Memoirs of Sally Hemings”, “Luv Struck”. Recent releases include John Grisham’s “Mickey” in which he co-starred with Harry Connick Jr. and Big Momma’s House 2 as FBI partner to Martin Lawrence and “Crazy Like a Fox”. Recent series work includes the popular WB series, “One Tree Hill” as the town mayor, Surface for NBC and a recurring role in HBO’s, The Wire as a part of the 2006/7 cast. In 2007 Mark worked in the feature films; THE ULTIMATE GIFT, DOG DAYS of SUMMER, DISMAL, EYEBORGS, BEAST of BURDEN, THE WAY of WAR and RED DIRT RISING…In April of 2008 Mark worked as the lead in BORDER TOWN, a low budget action film set for the DVD market and directed by talented first-timer, Chris Allen Williams. He has worked on over 50 films, dozens of series episodes, and in countless commercial and corporate projects.

Recently Mark formed a new film company, STORY TELLER PICTURES, and added the roles of Executive Producer and Producer to his credits…He worked as part of the production team on BEAST of BURDEN, BORDER TOWN and THE WAY of WAR starring Cuba Gooding Jr. Next up for STORY TELLER PICTURES is ‘DUST’, a compelling drama from writer Rob Smith. DUST is based on Smith’s One Act play of the same name which received the 2008 Kennedy Center John Cauble Award for Short Play. With partners, Chris Allen Williams, Vernon Guinn, Adam Sledd and Maura Soden, Story Teller Pictures is currently developing a dynamic, cross-genre, multi-picture slate.

For more information about Mark please visit the Internet Movie Data Base at:
www.imdb.com/name/nm0431438