Mark Bennington

Some Lesser Known Facts About Mark Bennington

• Mark Bennington is an American actor, photographer, drummer, and author who is known for playing the role of Donze in the OTT series Saas, Bahu Aur Flamingo (2023).

• Mark spent his childhood between Davis, California and the neighbourhood of South Sacramento.

• He developed an interest in acting at the age of 8 after he saw the actor John Travolta in the American dance drama film ‘Saturday Night Fever’ (1977) on TV. He wanted to do something on TV but was not sure if he wanted to become a dancer, actor or musician. Eventually, he figured out that he wanted to become an actor and started taking part in stage plays in school.

  

• At the age of 18, he took admission into an acting program, the New Actor Workshop by Mike Nichols in Manhattan, New York which started his acting journey.

  

• After completing his acting course, he worked as a theatre artist for a long time in France.

  

• Additionally, he spent three years in the experimental theatre with Tony Award-winning director Diane Paulus’s theatre troupe, ‘Project 400.’

• He has acted in various plays such as ‘An Enemy of the People’ as Sir Trevor Nunn, ‘Ghost & Love Stories’ as Paul Sills, ‘Murdering Marlowe’ as William Shakespeare, ‘Private Lives’ as Elyot, ‘A Marriage Proposal’ as Lomov, ‘Twelfth Night’ as Sebastian, ‘Holy Ghosts’ as Howard Rudd, and ‘The Merchant of Venice’ as Bassino.

  

• He has also worked as a theatre director. He has directed Elizabeth Logun’s theatre play ‘On My Knees.’ He also directed Noel Coward’s ‘Mild Oats,’ staged at The Classical Theater Lab in Los Angeles.

• Later, he went to Los Angeles, where he worked as an actor in the TV industry for almost 10 years. He appeared in TV series like Titans (2000), Star Trek: Voyager (2001), V.I.P (2001), Charmed (2001), and NYPD Blue (2004).

  

•  After working as an actor for 10 years, he decided to switch to some other profession. In 2002, he started taking pictures by using the camera of his deceased grandfather, who was an avid photographer. Initially, he took pictures of his friends and showed them to an agency. The agency liked his work and started providing him with clients. Soon, he began developing an interest in photography and started working as a full-time photographer.

• As a photographer, Mark’s work was published in various magazines including The Atlantic, The Huffington Post, UpWorthy, CNN, PDN, GQ India, Variety, Verve, Man’s World, Forbes, Lucky, Self, Platform, The Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly, The Wall Street Journal, Times of India, Virginia Quarterly Review, Boston Globe, and BuzzFeed. ^[3]The Atlantic

• In 2010, he came to India for a photography project. During his stay in India, his friend, Shanoo Sharma, who is a casting director asked him to audition for an English character, she was casting for the American film ‘The Letters’ (2014). Initially, he was hesitant but ended up getting a role in the movie ‘The Letters’ (2014), a biographical drama about Mother Teresa’s life.

  

• When he started doing photography at the age of 33, he had no interest left in acting. He stopped taking up the roles that he was offered.

• After spending 12-13 years as a photographer, he got a call from his friend Dibakar Banerjee who was looking for actors in the Hindi film Detective Byomkesh Bakshi in 2015. He offered him a role but he refused saying that he was getting married and was not interested in acting. His friend requested him, and later succeed in convincing him. He found the character very difficult to play because he had to speak a lot of Hindi.

• After that, he returned to the United States, focusing on photography full-time.

• In 2016, his photography project called America 2.0, focusing on Muslim youth in NYC, gained global recognition.

• He has been ranked among the ‘Top 10’ photographers for actor headshots in both Los Angeles and New York.

• From May 2014 to June 2015, he served as an adjunct professor of photography at S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University, New York. His photography was displayed in various locations worldwide, including Jerusalem, Rome, Tokyo, New York City, Hudson, San Francisco, Berlin, and London.

• In 2016, he wrote the photography book “Living the Dream: The Life of the ‘Bollywood’ Actor,” published by HarperCollins. Initially, he thought of capturing the lives of actors in LA for his book, but later, he decided to work with Bollywood actors in Mumbai. He met more than 100 Bollywood actors for his book.

  

• In 2017, he came back to India for a book launch. During this visit, his friend Shruti was casting for the film “Parmanu” and insisted that he take a role.

• Following that, he secured three more film projects, a couple of web series, and a TV show – a total of about 11 projects in just two months. Realizing the potential for work in India, he decided to move here. His wife was also eager to return to complete her dissertation.

• He appeared in Bollywood films including Kesari (2019), Commando 3 (2019), Bhangra Paa Le (2020), Angrezi Medium (2020), and Gandhi Godse Ek Yudh (2023). He is scheduled to appear in two other films in 2024 including Indian 2 and Heeramandi.

  

• He appeared in the Malayalam film Not Out (2022).

• He also acted in the Telugu film RRR (2022), Godfather (2022), and Devil (2023).

• He has also acted in some Hindi web series including Karenjit Kaur – The Untold Story of Sunny Leone (2018-2019), The Family Man (2019), Bombay Begums (2021), Inside Edge (2021), Human (2022), Rocket Boys (2023), and Saas, Bahu Aur Flamingo (2023).

  

• In 2019, Mark made a comeback to the theatre world after a 16-year hiatus. He directed ‘The Mumbai Terror Attacks’ by Jeff Goldberg at The Royal Opera House in Mumbai.

• He worked as a full-time drummer for a rock band named ’50 Cent Haircut’ from October 2005 to November 2010. It was a highly popular band in Los Angeles at that time. He played over 400 shows and recorded 3 albums with the band.

  

• He had a passion for interior design and worked on designing his friend Guneet Monga‘s office.

• Switching accents for different projects was challenging for him. Still, in an interview, he said, that once he fully embraces a character, the accent naturally becomes a crucial part of his thinking process. In an interview, he said,
  

  By the time I get in the room and we’re actually doing the scene, I don’t have to think about it at all. I can focus on the scene and be in the moment.”

• When he was a child, he aspired to become a ballet dancer and architect as well.