We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mark Felton. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mark below.

Mark , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

My path started when my partner told me about an opportunity to be a background actor for Guardians of the Galaxy 3. I am a big fan of the MCU, and having the opportunity to be on a marvel set was an opportunity I could not pass up. I was originally scheduled to work only two days, but eventually I worked several weeks. I went from a simple BG character to being a featured extra, and then I had an opportunity to wear heavy prosthetics as the rabbit! I also did one day as a stand in, and I was used to help set up the lights and cameras for the promotional shoots they did for the movie. The movie posters that have the characters, including the female characters, posing in various poses was done by me the day before.

This opportunity lead me to applying for core background in Megalopolis by Francis Ford Coppola, and I was luckily selected and told I’d be playing, “young interesting man” during the wedding scene. Unfortunately, as it happens often in the film business, things changed and I never got the opportunity. However, this did not deter me, but instead inspired me to push forward. I did not want to be in the background anymore. I wanted speaking roles, and I wanted to see what I could do as an actor.

I stated taking classes, reading scenes with other film actors, and started to hone my skills. I applied and auditioned for an agency and they accepted me. Now I have several speaking credits underneath me, an IMdB, and have made strong connections. I’m even making my own films, writing, and producing with a talented team from Iron Owl Films. The path forward is up, and I can’t wait to see what the future brings.

Mark , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I can remember my first interest in acting started my freshman year in high school. I grew up as an Army brat, and I moved around a lot during elementary school and middle school. I didn’t stop moving until I was close to high school, and my freshman year I was enrolled in theater 101. During my first month of high school my drama teacher told us about improv, and its the first time in my memory where I felt like I belonged.

I loved improv. I loved making people laugh, and I loved being a different person time and time again, game after game. That one class each day was the highlight of my day. About a month into high school, the drama teacher opened up auditions for the high school improv team, and the for the first time in the history of the team freshman were allowed to join the team. I went to the auditions and I made the team. I still remember the joke that made the teacher laugh, “You know, hitting dolphins with a wood hammer is much better than hitting them with a metal one.” In retrospect, and out of context, it sounds horrible, but it was a callback to a joke earlier, and it made him laugh really hard. I felt proud of myself. I loved being on the improv team, and for four years I loved performing on the stage in various games, various roles, and the continuous laughter I heard from me and my team. My senior year I was elected improv team captain, theater captain, and I was the lead role in the high school play as Picasso in Steve Martins Picasso at the Lapin Agile. And even though I have seen and read many other plays, that play is still, without a doubt, my favorite. I didn’t even want to be the lead role, I wanted to be the bartender. Funny how things work out sometimes.

I graduated high school, went to college, and I lost that improv kid spirit from high school. I got a degree in criminal justice as a bachelors degree, and then I received my masters in homeland security and emergency preparedness. I started working for FEMA, and I started my career as an adult. I didn’t know it then, but I lost the child inside that loved making people laugh and performing.

Well, then comes 2020. COVID hits, and, like many others, my life was turned upside down. I lived alone in Colorado, and for several months I became a shell of myself, very depressed. But during that time I became very in-depth with my thoughts on films and tv that I watched. I was that guy that would say, “You know…I wish the director did it this way…” or, “If I wrote this movie I would have edited the scene this way…” I started, slowly, finding that spirit that I missed from performing. And I seriously thought about going to film school. My job was fine…but I wasn’t fulfilled.

As I said in the question before, 2022 I was given an opportunity to be in Guardians of the Galaxy 3 as a background actor. At the time I thought it would just be a fun two days on a major marvel set. I loved marvel, and I thought that this would just be really cool to say that I was in a marvel movie. Those two days lead to me realizing that I needed to find that spirit I had when I was in high school. I wanted to perform again. I wanted to make people laugh again. More importantly, I wanted to find that high school kid again that wasn’t jaded from the world, that had a loving spirit, and that movie, and all the decisions I made after, made me find myself again.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

As any actor or creative would say, I want to make it. I want it all. I want to be a household name. I want. to be able to direct and produce stories.

But at the end of the day all I want is to be surrounded by other artists and creatives on a set making a beautiful film that the audience can relate.

Steve Martin wrote a play called, “Picasso at the Lapin Agile.” It’s a comedy play, but there’s a quote from Pablo Picasso. “Advancing into the unknown, the undrawn, the new thing must be coaxed out of its cave, wrestled with and finally pinned up on the wall like a hide. When I look at Goya its like he is reaching out his hand through the centuries to tap me on the shoulder. When I paint I feel like I am reaching my hand forward hundreds of years to touch someone too.”

I want to make art. I have endless amount of respect for so many talented directors and artists that have “touched” me with their work. I hope one day I can make art that will “touch” someone too.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

“Too much art is trapped in poverty.”

The arts used to be celebrated without the idea that every movie, film, tv show, play, etc. needed to make a lot of money. I believe there are too many non-creatives running Hollywood now that don’t look at art/film of what could be a beautiful story, but as a, “how much money will this make us?”

Too many of the same stories, the same actors playing the same role, the same productions continue to be pumped out to the masses day in and day out.

Non-creatives struggle with the idea that art cannot be made with so many restrictions, red tape, and, “too many cooks in the kitchen.”

I believe its time to give film and art back to the creatives, and not the ones that write a big check.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @mark.j.felton