Mark Duplass is an American actor, singer, producer, director, screenwriter, author, and musician, best known for his movie roles in Safety Not Guaranteed (2012) as Kenneth, Creep (2014) as Josef, The One I Love (2014) as Ethan, Blue Jay (2016) as Jim, and Creep 2 (2017) as Aaron. Mark also has a notable career as a television actor, with roles in TV series such as Dave in Wedlock (2014), Pete Eckhart / Pete in The League (2009-2015), Brett Pierson in Togetherness (2015-2016), which he also co-created for HBO, and Brendan Deslaurier in The Mindy Project (2012-2017). He is also known as the founder of the production company Duplass Brothers Productions with his older brother Jay Duplass and has directed movies such as The Puffy Chair (2005), Jeff, Who Lives at Home (2011), and The Do-Deca-Pentathlon (2012) and had produced more than 25 movies between 1996 and 2019. In 2018, Mark was also the winner of a shared Primetime Emmy Award for “Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series” for executive producing the documentary mini-series Wild Wild Country.
In 1998, Mark Duplass was pursuing his music career and toured the country with his solo debut rock CD album titled Small Hands (1998) which consisted of 10 tracks, on which he sang and played the acoustic guitar. For that, he earned a recording deal with Mercury Records and then released his 2nd studio album, titled Me & Her in 2000, which consisted of 7 tracks. After being diagnosed with tendinitis in both of his arms, Mark was forced to give up playing the acoustic guitar due to pain and started playing the organ instead. In 2002, he became the lead singer and keyboardist for the indie-rock band Volcano, I’m Still Excited!! and released EP album Carbon Copy (2002), and their debut studio album Volcano, I’m Still Excited!! (2004). He and his brother have also published a book via Random House Publishing titled Like Brothers in May 2018, with a foreword from . Mark has also amassed a large fanbase online with more than 500k followers on Twitter and more than 100k followers on Instagram.
Sun Sign
Sagittarius
Residence
Los Angeles, California, United States
Nationality
Education
Mark attended Jesuit High School in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. After graduating, he enrolled in the University of Texas at Austin in Austin, Texas, United States.
After he encountered arms injuries around 2000, Mark enrolled in City College of New York in New York City, New York, United States, and studied composition.
Manager
Mark Duplass is represented by –
- DBP Donut (Company) in Highland Park, Los Angeles, California, United States, and New York City, New York, United States
- Duplass Brothers Productions (Company) in Los Angeles, California, United States
- ICM Partners (Talent Agent, Commercial) in Los Angeles, California, United States
- Brigade Marketing (Publicist) in New York City, New York, United States
- Adam Kersh (Freelance Publicist) in New York City, New York, United States
Genre
Alternative/Indie, Rock, Indie-Rock, Alternative Rock
Instruments
Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Keyboards, Organ
Labels
- Duplass Brothers
- Mercury Records
- Polyvinyl Records
Girlfriend / Spouse
Mark Duplass has dated –
- Katie Aselton (2006-Present) – He married fellow actress, director, and producer Katie Aselton on August 26, 2006. They’ve also co-starred in The League (2009-2015) and his feature film The Puffy Chair (2005), which he produced, wrote and directed. Mark and Katie also have 2 daughters named Ora Duplass (b. 2007) and Molly Duplass (b. 2012).
Sexual Orientation
Straight
Distinctive Features
- Tall height
- Messy fringe haircut
Brand Endorsements
Mark Duplass has appeared in TV commercials such as –
- Apple iPad Pro – ‘What’s a Computer?’ (2016)
- Apple iPad Pro – ‘Do More With Word’ (2017)
- Wealthsimple (2018)
Mark has also supported a charity titled People Assisting The Homeless (PATH) in 2019, and firmly stated that every person deserves a home.
Religion
Roman Catholicism
Best Known For
- His movie roles of Kenneth in Safety Not Guaranteed (2012), Josef in Creep (2014), Ethan in The One I Love (2014), Jim in Blue Jay (2016), and Aaron in Creep 2 (2017)
- Starring in TV series such as Wedlock (2014) as Dave, The League (2009-2015) as Pete Eckhart / Pete, Togetherness (2015-2016) as Brett Pierson, which he also co-created for HBO, and The Mindy Project (2012-2017) as Brendan Deslaurier
First Album
Mark Duplass released his debut solo album, titled Small Hands, in 1998, under Duplass Brothers record label. It consisted of 10 tracks titled Jonas, Purple Walls, Killing Leftover Meaning, Spain, My Head, The Searchers, Twenty-Two Pages, Everybody’s Laughing, Circus People, and The Ballad of Gilbert.
In 2002, Mark became the lead singer and keyboardist for the American indie-rock and alternative rock band Volcano, I’m Still Excited!!. He released his debut EP album titled Carbon Copy in 2002, which was noticed by Polyvinyl Records, who signed them and released their debut studio album Volcano, I’m Still Excited!! in 2004. It consisted of 16 tracks titled Two Exclamation Points, Byron’s 24th Christmas, Shouting Across The Water, Firebombing London, By No Means, Goodbye, Casio, Around the Dream, Mostly On An Island, New Brad, Echo Park, Fisticuffs, In Green, Joe Jaxon, Trunk Of My Car, 2nd Gun, and Overture.
First Film
Mark Duplass made his theatrical film debut as Josh in the comedy-drama film The Puffy Chair in 2005.
First Web Show
Mark Duplass made his first web show appearance as Tom Wyatt in an episode titled La Mano of the drama web series Goliath in 2018.
First TV Show
Mark Duplass made his first TV show appearance as ‘Himself’ in an episode of the series Festival Updates in 2008.
As a voice actor, Mark Duplass made his first TV show appearance as “Non-Earring” in an episode titled Rats of the animated comedy series Animals. in February 2016.
Mark Duplass Favorite Things
- Movies – Raising Arizona (1987), Say Anything… (1989), What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), You Can Count On Me (2000), Punch-Drunk Love (2002), Adaptation (2002)
- Books – Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (1996), Widow Basquiat by Jennifer Clement (2000), 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (2010), My Struggle by Karl Ove Knausgaard (6 volumes, 2009–2011), Killing and Dying by Adrian Tomine (2015), Give People Money by Annie Lowrey (2018)
- His Own Movie – Blue Jay (2016) with
Source – , , RottenTomatoes.com, TheWeek.com
Mark Duplass Facts
- He said that he knew he would work with his brother because Jay always allowed him to hang around even though he was 3 years older. He added that no matter what Jay did, he would still forgive him because he “put him on his feet” and owes him a lot.
- Many people regard Mark as the founder of the mumblecore aesthetic style of making movies in mid-to-late 2000s.
- Mark doesn’t like spending money on anything that goes away. For that reason, he bought a large, expensive house that would only go up in value.
- He never saw himself as a person that’s money-oriented. Mark initially only wanted to make movies that would get into the Sundance Festival and sell for any amount.
- He and his wife give away approximately 10% of their income to charity.
- His parents were so supportive of his and his brother’s dreams as filmmakers that they felt guilty, knowing how much other artists struggled with rejection.
- Mark and his brother struggled for around 10 years of “making bad pieces of art” before they finally found success. Their 7-minute short film, This is John (2003) only cost them $3 to make, but it got into Sundance Film Festival and picked up a lot of awards. In 2012, Mark said it was by far the “worst-looking and worst-sounding film to play at the festival.”
- At the time of that struggle, around 2003, Mark and his brother worked as freelance movie editors and charged only $5 to cut a movie.
- He cited singer Elvis Costello and bands Beulah, Guided By Voices, Death Cab For Cutie, and Wilco as biggest inspirations for the music created and played by his band Volcano, I’m Still Excited!!.
- He has a signature blue hoodie that a lot of people recognize him for.
- Mark has a bad habit of constantly second-guessing himself.
- At the age of 27, Mark admitted he was reaching the limits of his creative essence. Luckily, a camera that could shoot 24 frames per second came out for around $3k at that time, which allowed him to make his movie The Puffy Chair (2005) for around $10k of borrowed money. That movie was also the 1st feature film acquired by Netflix for their platform.
- In the past, Mark and Jay were approached by Marvel Studios to do a project worth between $150 and $180 million and would take 3 years of their lives. They both declined the offer because of how much stuff they could make in that time period, and how many upcoming filmmakers they could meet and influence.
- In 2017, Jay and Mark launched their own advertising company, DBP Donut. They create branded content and commercials for Amazon, Lyft, Levi’s, Snapchat, and other popular television and web platforms and companies.
- Mark stated in early 2017 that ‘s election in 2016 will be the best thing to happen to the United States because everyone can learn from his mistakes.
- Mark had to apologize after he received backlash for supporting the editor-in-chief for The Daily Wire and conservative commentator, , on July 2018.
- He goes to therapy regularly so he can figure out how to be a better friend, brother, father, son, and husband. Mark also prefers the characters he writes to be flawed in some way but to have big dreams that require them to discover their strengths.
- Mark stated that self-reliance and self-empowerment was the key to his success, as well as a micro-bricking plan that he used in his career. Instead of making 1 expensive movie, he goes and makes 4 or 5 smaller ones, and lets the audience decide which one goes viral. He also rarely takes private investors’ offers and prefers to build up his projects in his own way, even if it takes years.
- In January 2019, he stated that the only reason he was still making movies was because of Netflix. They were game-changers in the industry, according to him, and allowed filmmakers to create projects for a niche, extremely passionate audience instead of mass-appealing, easily marketable things.
- Mark has jokingly refused to define his friendship with the director Ray Romano “a bromance” in late January 2019 because it sounded like it had “a little bit of gay panic involved into it.”
- Visit his official website @ duplassbrothers.com.
Featured Image by Greg2600 / / CC BY-SA 2.0
Facts of Mark David Duplass
- Gender Male
- full nameMark David Duplass
- middle nameDavid
- nicknamesMark
- birthplaceNew Orleans, Louisiana, United States
- Date of Birth December 07, 1976
- Age 47 years 11 months
- Horoscope Sagittarius
- Lucky Number 6
- Lucky Stone Turquoise
- Lucky Color Orange
- Best Match for Marriage Leo, Aquarius
- ethnicity / ethnic backgroundItalian (Sicilian) descent on his maternal side, and also of Cajun French, German, Swiss-German, and about 1/16th Ashkenazi Jewish
- nationalityAmerican
- religionRoman Catholicism
- net worth$3 million
- professionDirector, Producer, Actor, Singer, Musician, Screenwriter, Author
- weight77 kg or 170 lbs
- height5 ft 10.5 in or 179 cm
- hair colorDark Brown
- eye colorHazel
- body type / buildSlim
- high schoolJesuit High School
- collegeUniversity of Texas
- motherCynthia (née Ernst) Duplass
- fatherLawrence Duplass
- brothersJay Duplass
- favorite moviesRaising Arizona (1987), Say Anything… (1989), What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), You Can Count On Me (2000), Punch-Drunk Love (2002), Adaptation (2002)
- favorite booksInfinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (1996), Widow Basquiat by Jennifer Clement (2000), 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (2010), My Struggle by Karl Ove Knausgaard (6 volumes, 2009–2011), Killing and Dying by Adrian Tomine (2015), Give People Money by Annie Lowrey (2018)