school. I asked Dom how much he would charge me for his help and he looked me in the eye and said; ‘I won’t charge you a penny as long as you promise me one thing...you will come back your home town one day and pass on some of your knowledge to the young people of this town’. I made the promise.”

Mark did some big shows like the Western Flyer and Move over Mozart which is where he first came across a very young Ben Eccles. They became great friends but shortly after went their separate ways. Mark was applying for drama schools and gained a place at the Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama on what was then the Community Theatre Arts Course, and Ben went off and set up Sixth Sense Theatre Company with Julia Dickinson. Three years later he was out in the big wild world of the professional actor, looking for an agent, an equity card and work!

“I was very lucky to get a job even before I had technically finished college. There had been a note on the college notice board advertising for actors to do a theatre in education project up in Northumberland. The project was based around the story of Alice in Wonderland and I auditioned for the part of The Mock Turtle. I got the job! So my first real professional acting role was to be me dressed up in an army nuclear fallout suite, with my face painted brown and a shell on my back. Welcome to the glamorous world of the actor, hey!”

plans for that play and was intending on taking the group up to Edinburgh to perform it at the Fringe Festival.

“We held some evenings of entertainment to raise money to fund the trip and before I knew it there I was seventeen (still with hair!), standing in the middle of Edinburgh with my face painted white, not much on apart from a pair of shorts, stage fighting with two other guys to advertise our show and get an audience!”

“I can still remember the nerves as I walked up the stairs of the English department to find out if my name was on the list of the successful applicants and I couldn’t believe it when I saw that I had got in. It was unreal and I stood for a while staring at the piece of paper...considering just what I had let myself in for!”

What Mark hadn’t really realised was that Nigel Williams had

It was the combination of Edinburgh, the play and a huge amount of encouragement from Nigel Williams that really got Mark interested in performing and acting. When the group returned from Edinburgh he was anxious to get his teeth into more shows.

“When we got back I couldn’t get enough, I wrote a version of the Wizard of Oz with some sixth from friends, did more evenings of entertainment usually with my comedy side kick at the time Nick Fitton and then Nigel asked me to audition for the part of Joseph in the Technicolor Dreamcoat. Acting was one thing...but singing... hold on I thought!!”

But he got the part and finished his sixth form days singing his heart out and generally acting the goat as Joseph son of Jacob! And that was the beginning of a long and arduous journey into the world of an actor.

“Up until that point I really didn’t have any direction. I had some vague notion that I might get in involved in geology and applied to do geography at Gwent University. I got a place as long as my grades were up to scratch. But fortunately they weren’t. I messed up on my geography paper and didn’t make the grades, which in hindsight was not such a bad thing because it meant then I would have gone down the geography route instead of the drama route.”

With yet more support and encouragement from Nigel Williams, Mark set about gaining as much experience as possible on the local amateur dramatic scene.

“I was involved with the Wyvern Community Theatre group under the direction of lovely old Dominic Barber. He took me under his wing and helped me with my audition speeches for drama

As his course was a community theatre course Mark spent a lot of his early career working for various theatre in education and community companies with stints at the Wigan Pier and The museum of moving image and tours with companies like Box Clever and Snap Peoples Theatre. It was whilst on tour to Wellingbourgh that Mark came across Dom Barber again. He was now artistic director of the Castle Theatre.

It was through Dominic that Mark was introduced to Mark Rayment who cast him as Lucky Eric in Bouncers at The Mercury Theatre in Colchester, and from this show Mark Got his first real agent and a chance to break into the other side of the acting coin...Television.

“My theatre C.V was looking OK so my agent decided that I really need to boost my T.V career and so started putting me up for anything and everything! My first real T.V role was on Eastenders. I was a nervous wreck on the first day of filming and had my first scenes with Steve McFadden (Phil Mitchell). When I look back over the firsts scenes I ever did I can smell the fear coming through the T.V screen!! But it was so exciting at the same time. I went on to do stuff on Family affairs, The Bill, Spooks, Casualty, Dangerfield, Love Soup, Badiell Syndrome, the Bill again! Heartbeat, more Bill, and films for T.V like the Whistleblower  and The Grid. In the mean time I had also come back to Swindon to do a show for Ben Eccles and Sixth Sense. I think it was a show called Dungeons and Dragons and was touring around Wiltshire schools. This is where I was really introduced to Julia Dickinson who was running the Sixth Sense Youth Theatre.”

“Ben collared me one day and asked if I would cover his class that evening as he had something else on and I remember saying no way...I was never going to teach..I was no teacher and had no inclination to start! But then the words of dear old Dom rang out in my ears and I remembered the promise I had made. I did the class for two hours and thoroughly enjoyed it. They were a great group and I wanted to work with them again. Eventually Ben asked me take over the group full time and I ended up moving back to Swindon to continue with teaching.”

Many moons later Julia invited Mark to come and do some classes with her at Tanwood Dance School.

“We used to rehearse the group in the flat at the top of Mollies house. Fifteen students in one tiny room!! Space to swing a cat comes to mind! But the groups were great and we had some great fun.”

In early 2001 Mark and Julia decided that it was high time they set up their own business and link it in with the agency Julia had also set up, The Young Actors File.

“We sat around the table at Julia’s house and deliberated for hours on what we were going to try and achieve and finally that day we settled on our game plan and decided on the new name.”

The group was to be called Swindon Young Actors.

A few years (and hair follicles!) later, Julia decided that she wanted to see the world and set off on her travels in a camper van and Mark bought her share of the business. They are still great friends and Mark is still in the habit of phoning her for advice and a moan!!! Jan Sherlock then took over the Young Actors File which still runs alongside S.Y.A and the rest as they say is......history!!! Mark still lives in Swindon and is still working as a professional actor. He has one son George...oh and some fish!!

This site, and SYA, is in memory of Dominic Barber: for whom I owe so much and will be forever grateful. Also a big thank you to Nigel Williams... my mentor.

Mark in Casualty

Bouncers with John Godber

Mark with Bouncers and  Ross Kemp

Mark in The Bill

Can you spot Mark?

This photo was taken from his first very first show, way back in Edinburgh, 1983!