Writer, Actor, Producer, and Director Bio
Mark Fauser is a Professional Screenwriter, Actor, Director, Playwright, Executive Director of the Community School of the Arts, and a Director of Marketing for the City of Marion.
He co-wrote "WAKING UP IN RENO" with partner Brent Briscoe. The movie stars Academy Award winner Billy Bob Thornton, Academy Award winner Charlize Theron, Patrick Swayzee, Natasha Richardson, and Penelope Cruz. Mark and Brent also star in the Miramax film.
Mark Fauser co-wrote the critically acclaimed Showtime original movie "THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT", which featured an All-star cast, Lea Thompson, Robert Loggia, Patrick Dempsey, Amanda Plummer, Christopher Lloyd, Carl Reiner, Laura San Giacomo, Judge Reinhold, L.L. Cool Jay & Fisher Stevens. The movie garnered two Ace nominations and Amanda Plummer won for Best Supporting Actress. Their play, from which the movie was derived, is published by Eldridge Publishing.
Mark and Brent have another script with Miramax, entitled "HILLBILLY HEIST". It's based on a true story about the second largest bank heist in U.S. history, performed by the silliest trailer bunch the world has ever known.
Mark and Brent did rewrites for five studio pictures. "A SWAN'S SONG" for Columbia, "THE BUDDY SYSTEM" for Dimension, "FOOLPROOF" for Universal, "CROSS DRESSING" for Universal and "MALE PATTERN BALDNESS" a Joe Eszterhas film for Paramount.
Mark was also a writer for the CBS hit series "EVENING SHADE" and worked on the show for four years for teacher, mentor Burt Reynolds. Mark also lent his writing talents to the movie "THE MAN FROM LEFT FIELD" starring Burt Reynolds and Reba McEntire.
One of Mark's proudest moments was when he wrote, directed and starred in his first feature film entitled "IT'S ALL ABOUT YOU". It’s a low budget independent feature which stars John DiAquino, Gigi Rice, Dom Deluise, Sally Kirkland, Robert Morse, Joel Murray and himself. It is based on his play that ran for one year, every Friday night, at the Tamarind Theater in Los Angeles. The movie won Best Comedy at the Beverly Hills Film Festival.
Mark started the Charles Nelson Reilly acting and writing faculty in Los Angeles. His writing origins began as a student at the University of Missouri in which he wrote a lot of sketch comedy. In college he directed a skit that won first place and the following year hosted and was the Chairman of the event which helped reshape Greek Week for the next two decades.
The year he was the Chair and host, he wrote, produced, starred and directed three huge variety shows which featured two virtually unknown talents. We know them today as Brad Pitt and Sheryl Crow. That Year Brad Pitt won the first ever Best Actor award.
Mark also wrote the commercial spots for Quaker State and Florida Orange Juice starring Burt Reynolds.
As an actor, Mark starred in the movie "MADISON' with Jim Caviezel, Bruce Dern, Mary McCormack and Jake Lloyd. He was in "WAKING' UP IN RENO", the movie "BETWEEN THE SHEETS" directed by Michael Deluise and "FREEZE FRAME" with Shannon Dougherty. He has appeared on numerous television shows such as "COACH", "JAG", "MODELS INC." "QUANTUM LEAP", "EVENING SHADE", "THE NEW WKRP", "SHADES OF L.A.", and was a series regular on the hidden camera show "THE HIS SQUAD". He starred in "FIRE BEACH" a pilot shot for Paramount. He was cast as Weapons Officer Dalton Phillips, and as a recurring role, on the Steven Spielberg series "SEAQUEST D.S.V.". Mark has starred in over 40 different stage plays and has been directed by some of the best including: Charles Nelson Reilly, Dom Deluise, Leonard Frey, and Jaston Williams. Mark originated 7 different roles as an actor on the stage including the World Premiere of "ELEVEN ZULU", at the Kennedy Center. This play won more American College Theater Festival awards than any other play.
Mark is the Executive Director of the Community School of the Arts which is a flourishing art school in the Midwest and he also serves as the Director of Marketing for the City of Marion.
Consistency and character are important to him and he has been rewarded by that over the years from being Voted “Best All Around” by his peers in high school to recently being inducted into the Parkway high school Hall of Fame. In college he was nominated for an Irene Ryan award and was the Anchor Splash King and last year he was awarded The Chamber of Commerce Chairman’s Award.
Mark has been blessed to have had the great fortune to work with a variety of people including Jimmy Stewart, Ossie Davis, Burt Reynolds, Carol Burnett, and Billy Bob Thornton to name a few and values his friends, teachers and family that have been so supportive of him over the years.