By the time he graduated from High School, Mark had collected several awards, won in art competitions, for the marionettes which he designed and built.

In 1977 Mark discovered the Los Angeles Guild of Puppetry and Puppeteers of America. He was thrilled to find many other people "out there" who shared his interest in puppetry. He met such notable professional puppeteers as Frank Paris, Bob Baker, Rene' and many others. Frank Paris, "Master of the Marionette", became a mentor to Mark and taught him about sculpting puppet heads and hands. He also showed Mark how to cast hollow puppet heads out of celastic, and the artistry of operating a marionette.

Attending festivals sponsored by the Puppeteers of America, Mark was inspired by the diverse and fascinating puppet shows from around the world. Mark felt that he had finally found his niche.

Around that time, Mark met Ernie Guderjahn, who was the head of the street theatre program at Magic Mountain in Valencia California. Ernie was creating a marionette show for the children’s area and he needed a puppet builder. Mark was hired for the ‘Mountain’s’ Rainbow Circus street theater program. Besides puppet building, his jobs included prop master, prop building, strolling stage puppeteer, marionette puppeteer and roaming costumed character.

After three fun, if not lucrative, years at Magic Mountain. Mark gained a position for the Tony Urbano Company. It was through Tony that Mark got his first television contract as a puppeteer on Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters, a country music variety show produced by Sid and Marty Krofft. Half way through every show there was an all puppet band and Mark was the puppeteer for the hands of the drummer puppet.

Following Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters, Mark went to work for Tom Burman, who was creating special corpse effects and make-up for the movie One Dark Night. Mark has spent many years working for, and learning from, such acclaimed makeup and creature effects artists as Dave Miller (Nightmare on Elm Street), Todd Masters (Look Who's Talking), Steve Johnson (Ghostbusters, Frightnight) and Rick Baker (Thriller, Gremlins II, Men In Black).

Special effects creature building led to special effects creature puppetry. Mark was soon working in feature films, being directed by such prominent film makers as Steven Speilberg, Barry Sonnenfeld, Joe Dante, Joe Johnston, Joel Schumacher and John Landis.

In 1984, while working at Boss Films in Venice, California, Mark made a memorable contribution in the film arena by stepping into the character suit of "Slimer the Green Ghost", and acting opposite Bill Murray and Dan Ackroyd in the smash hit Ghostbusters. Mark is a zombie in Michael Jackson’s rock horror music video Thriller, and can be glimpsed running through the corridors of an office building being attacked by a gene-altered gremlin in Gremlins II. Mark was also the lead puppeteer of the "Daffy" character in Gremlins II.

Mark is a graduate of the Krofft School of Puppetry and he has studied with such talented puppeteers as Frank Paris, Brian Henson, Kevin Clash, Michael Earl and Tony Urbano. He studied voice over through Dolores Dihel's Voiceover Connection. He is a member of the Los Angeles Guild of Puppetry, Puppeteers of America, Screen Actor's Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

Mark lives in North Hollywood California, with his wife Mandolina, an artist, and his agility dog Phantom. He continues to perform puppets for film, television and stage. In his spare time you'll find him in his studio always working with new ideas to turn his creative visions into reality.