About Me

Born and raised in the Sierra Nevada foothills gold rush hamlet of Auburn, California, Mark found high school classes to be the perfect stage for ... political discussions.  While earnest in his discourse, Mark failed to notice he entertained rather than educated his teachers and classmates. 

With his Eagle Scout and 3.9 high school GPA in hand, Mark attended Hillsdale College, where he double majored in Political Economy and Christian Studies, joined the debate team and become opinion editor of the student newspaper.  With the curious departure of the editor-in-chief, Mark resigned in protest and founded "The Hillsdale Spectator", a student newspaper that was financially and editorially independent of the college.

Mark was dismissed from the college by the same president who years later would resign in disgrace.  A paragraph in the Vanity Fair article on the scandal discussed Mark, "The Hillsdale Spectator", and quoted the college's reasons for dismissing Mark.  Mark sued the college for defamation with pro bono representation ... and lost.  Mark's disenchantment with politics was complete, with religion on life support.  For Mark, fading heroes William F. Buckley, Jr. and Ronald Reagan were giving way to Christopher Hitchens, Frank Sinatra, George Carlin, Jim Carrey and Leonardo DiCaprio.

After a career in sales that led to brokering mortgage loans, a capital markets crisis forced Mark to re-evaluate his life path.  A divorced and broke dad, Mark realized he had nothing to lose.  He could actually pursue his passion.  Mark finally gave himself permission to entertain.

Mark began performing stand up comedy and took classes at the San Francisco Comedy College.  Mark chose the stage name "Mark Roman" reasoning that it was easier to spell, remember and pronounce than the name his father had adopted from his step father ... Adolf Nehls.

To make ends meet, Mark drove a cab and later limos.  Mark asked passengers their line of work.  When one said "producer" he replied "I'm an actor".  Six months later he was cast in the indie film "Devious, Inc.", his first IMDb credit.  Mark discovered the wonderful world of screen acting as well as hosting live events.

In 2010 Mark made his first network TV appearance on NBC's "Trauma".  In early 2011, Mark's first TV role with lines was as a Secret Service agent on "I (Almost) Got Away With It" on Discovery ID.  Mark relocated from the San Francisco Bay Area to Los Angeles to better pursue his entertainment career. 

Racking up many TV as well as movie and commercial credits in short order, Mark is quickly finding his place, a fresh new new comedic and dramatic talent in the capital of entertainment.  As Mark likes to sing to a Dire Straights tune, "Money that's something, chicks that read, I want my Mark TV!"