THE MARK FEUERSTEIN LIFE STORY... SUMMARIZED by Dane Youssef

THE MARK FEUERSTEIN LIFE STORY... SUMMARIZED

by Dane Youssef

Now here is an actor who has had plenty of windows, but rarely a rock. Mark Feuerstein, son of a school teacher and lawyer, the diminutive and boyishly handsome muscle-bound actor has had something of a spotty career.


Making successful and popular guest-spots and recurring roles and disasterous and short-term regulars, Mark has certainly made his way into Hollywood out of sheer determination (and some may say talent as well).


Starting out as a high school state champion wrestler with aspirations of following in the family footsteps and being a lawyer, after taking a theater class, Mark became instantly smitten. After graduation, he applied to the
London School of Dramatic Arts and studied the art of physical comedy at Ecole Phillipe Gaulier in France.


After some brief off-Broadway theatre, he made waves as a recurring role with the on the ABC soap "Loving" and then later became a running staple of NBC as the too-young, too-naive, too-excited and eventually philandering veterinarian boyfriend of "Caroline in the City."


Audiences and suits were impressed and NBC put Feuerstein in a genuinely good sit-com called "Fired Up" about an exec and her assistant who face the world together. But at a time where "Seinfeld" and "Friends" were must-see and NBC wanted to manufacture all their shows to be like these, "Fired Up" was laid off after almost two seasons.


NBC tried again by giving Feuerstein his own star-vehicle entitled "Conrad Bloom" about a young ad exec who was being smothered by every woman around him. An intriguing idea killed by a weak and lifeless execution. The show moved at a slug's pace and so did a lot of the cast, despite a really kicking opening soundtrack.


Many critics has labled him "sit-com kryptonite," "murderer of a thousand sit-coms" and "batting for Tom Arnold's record" and audiences didn't even notice him. And after the disaster of two shows, most actors would probably be so crushed, they'd try to find a new day job. Things sure looked grim.


But Mark wasn't about to be stopped. He got his first Broadway lead in Alfred Uhry's Tony award-winner "The Last Nights Of Ballyhoo" about a family of Southern Jews, and made his major motion-picture debut as Micheal, Sandra Bullock's doomed husband in Practical Magic. As well as a memorable short role (he says his favorite) as a junior suit with empty charm who's young enough to be Albert Brooks' son and gives him the shaft in Albert Brooks' "The Muse"(1999).


With "Casanova Falling" (later retitled in the U.S. "Giving it Up"), Feuerstein was cast in his very first leading man role as a womanizing advertising exec who falls for his new boss (Amy Redford) who doesn't share his superficial worldview. The movie won the "Romantic Comedy" trophy at the New York International Independent Film & Video Festival.


With the casting of Feuerstein in both Woman on Top and What Women Want (both in 2000), Feuerstein had apparently survived the storm and it was smooth-sailing from then on in. Entertainment Weekly has even dubbed Mark "It Phoenix" due to his wild comeback after so many duds (enough to give a lot of other actors a lifetime ban from the biz).


Mark finally returned to NBC and managed to make amends with recurring roles on "The West Wing" and "Once and Again." But was Mark able to be successful as a regular?


He made a bunch of bit-parts in films and guest spots on TV until finally reaching regular work with the semi-popular, if critically scathed "Good Morning, Miami" where Mark played a boy wonder producer who winds up taking a job no one (not even him) wanted... because of the woman he does.


By next year, Feuerstein had become not only a recognizable face, but a heart-throb as well. He was named one of People's 50 Most Beautiful People in 2003. And appeared in the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Jules Phifer's Off-Broadway production of the play "A Bad Friend" later that summer.


Feuerstein is at the top now, short guy that he is. Because he crawled and clawed tooth-and-nail to get there.


He doesn't look bad for the journey.


--Sincerely, Dane Youssef

danessf@yahoo.com

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