Biography

Tony Mark was the Executive Producer of Kathryn Bigelow's "The Hurt Locker" starring Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie, which received 9 Academy Award nominations and won 6 Oscars including Best Picture. Other Oscar-nominated movies include "The Mirror Has Two Faces" starring Barbara Streisand and Jeff Bridges and Terry Gilliam's "The Fisher King" starring Robin Williams and Jeff Bridges. He is proud to have also produced one of the great rodeo movies, "8 Seconds" starring Luke Perry as the legendary bull-rider Lane Frost. Numerous film festivals include Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Toronto, Telluride, and Sundance. Among franchises, he was the Executive Producer of "Scary Movie 2", and worked with Robert Rodriguez to create both "Desperado" starring Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek and its sequel "Once Upon A Time In Mexico" with Antonio Banderas and Johnny Depp. He also worked with Rodriguez on the sequel to "Sin City", "Sin City II - A Dame To Kill For".

For television, he was Co-Executive Producer on Seasons 1 and 2 of DirecTV's series "Mr. Mercedes" based on the Stephen King novel, written by David E. Kelly, directed by Jack Bender, and starring Brendan Gleason. He Co-Executive Produced TNT's hit naval series from Michael Bay, "The Last Ship" and Discovery's mini-series "Harley and the Davidsons". Tony produced "Georgia O'Keeffe" starring Joan Allen and Jeremy Irons, which received 9 Emmy nominations and was nominated for Best Picture at the Golden Globes as well as the Producers Guild and Directors Guild Awards and which won the Writers Guild Award for Best Screenplay. Other Emmy nominations have come for "Witness Protection" with Tom Sizemore, Forest Whitaker, and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and "Starring Pancho Villa as Himself" with Antonio Banderas, Alan Arkin, and Jim Broadbent; both for HBO.

Tony won the Imagen Award (established to recognize the positive portrayal of Latinos in media) for producing "Pancho Villa", and the Gracie Award (established to recognize the positive portrayal of women in media) for "Georgia O'Keeffe".

He has worked all over the United States and internationally in Bolivia, Canada, China, Dominican Republic, France, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Mexico, and Romania. Tony has written for MGM, ABC, NBC, Showtime and USA Networks and has directed extensive 2nd Unit on films for Sony, HBO, CBS, TNT, Dimension and DirecTV. For the Guggenheim Foundation, he directed a documentary on the art collections of Solomon and Peggy Guggenheim in New York, Venice, and Rome.

Notable filmmakers he's worked with include John Avildsen, Michael Bay, Bruce Beresford, Kathryn Bigelow, Terry Gilliam, James Lapine, George Lucas, Bob Rafelson, Robert Redford, Robert Rodriguez, John Singleton, Barbra Streisand, and the legendary Robert Wise. Tony wrote the original script and produced the final feature of Robert Wise's career, "Rooftops", a gritty drama shot on location on the streets of New York's pre-gentrified Lower East Side.

Among film and television projects, Tony produced the series "Snowfall" at FX with John Singleton, Tommy Schlamme, and Dave Andron. He partnered with Scott Free Television developing "Blood and Thunder", an epic series about the conquest of the American West based on the book by Hampton Sides, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Kit Harrington. He recently completed the feature film "Will Gardner" written, directed, and starring Max Martini about a homeless vet in the grip of PTSD. He is partnered with Suzanne de Passe and Legendary Television on the series "FANG", written by Madison Jones and directed by Jonathan East. In December 2021 Tony returned from the Dominican Republic where he produced "Los Frikis" for New Slate and Lord/Miller. The feature, written and directed by Michael Schwartz and Tyler Nilson is set in the punk rock scene of 1992 Havana.

Tony co-founded Assistance Dogs of the West (assistancedogsofthewest.org) in Santa Fe, New Mexico, an innovative non-profit that trains service dogs to work with physically disabled clients, veterans suffering from PTSD, and courthouse dogs who provide emotional security to young victims of abuse who must testify in open court. For over 20 years, using student trainers alongside professionals and rescue dogs alongside purebreds, Assistance Dogs of the West has been at the forefront of the service dog movement.

Tony was born and raised in New York theatre. His mother is Broadway actress and cabaret performer Lynne Charnay; his father was musician and radio personality Raphael Mark. His stepfather was the renowned rare instrument dealer, Jacques Francais.

Tony attended Hunter College Elementary School, Horace Mann High School, and studied theatre at Carnegie-Mellon University. He was the artistic director of Valley Theatre Company in Poughkeepsie, NY where he won Best Actor at the NY State Theatre Festival for portraying Johnny Pope in "A Hatful of Rain". He spent two seasons directing and performing summer stock at the Hyde Park Playhouse in Hyde Park, NY, where he played the title role in "Lenny". Also along the way, Tony hosted a late-night jazz and blues show on WPDH-FM in Poughkeepsie, NY, was the Official Photographer for the Dutchess County Fair in Rhinebeck, N.Y. and the National High School Rodeo Championships in Toma, Wisconsin, was a line cook and a taxi driver in New York, and for 1 surreal month was the #1 salesman of Electrolux vacuum cleaners in the Northeast.

He divides his time between Santa Fe, New York, and Los Angeles.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: LCranston