Mark Phelan makes a memorable first impression, whether entering a scene in an action-packed feature film or sauntering through a crowded ruin pub in downtown Pest. Although the London native was always intrigued by the movie industry, his first acting break came long after he moved to Hungary – and since then Mark continually appears in prestigious motion-picture productions shot here and abroad, playing diverse roles ranging from a pirate to a Parisian to a bandit to a bouncer in a rowdy S&M club, leading up to his most prominent part yet as an inspirational magician in the recently released “Houdini” miniseries. We speak with Mark about his unconventional acting career and his two decades of living in Budapest.
In 1993, Mark Phelan rolled into Budapest aboard a bus with no return ticket and no money in his pocket, arriving in Hungary to visit his girlfriend at the time; soon it was clear that he’d found a new home. “Budapest was a million miles away from my life in London and a breath of fresh air to me, almost like going back in time 20 years and getting a second chance at the age of innocence that had eluded me in my youth,” he recalls. “From that point I knew I’d found my place.”
After a rough-and-tumble childhood in London’s Brixton district – a notoriously tough neighborhood during the ’70s and ’80s – Mark was overjoyed to find a peaceful and affordable haven in Budapest, where he was free to pursue his artistic endeavors of painting, writing, and singing while enjoying the heady days and nights of living in Hungary’s capital soon after the collapse of communism.
With his distinct appearance marked by a bearded visage, steely blue eyes, long brown hair, a goodly girth, and a gruff accent that makes everything he says sound like dialogue from a Charles Dickens novel, Mark soon became a familiar presence among the growing community of foreigners living in Budapest, supporting himself here as an artist for over a decade while taking occasional odd jobs.
About eight years ago, one of those side gigs turned into a fateful occasion. “A friend asked me if I would be interested in making a few bucks reading the lines at a casting for a TV show, ‘Painkiller Jane’,” Mark says. “I spent three days reading lines to over 260 actors, and the producers were pulling their hair out due to the fact that they couldn’t fill the guest-lead role locally. The head producer walks in fuming on the last day of the casting, saying ‘Don’t tell me you’ve seen everyone – did you try that fucking guy?’, pointing at me!”
Although the director protested that Mark was not an actor, he was given a chance to audition; “two hours later, I got a call telling me I was in.” This became Mark’s first part on a major television series, but it was far from his last; although Mark is a mild-mannered man at heart, his timelessly intimidating appearance was soon recognized as an asset on the set of historical dramas like the BBC’s “Robin Hood” program (in the role of a woodlands bandit that attacks the Sheriff of Nottingham – played by Keith Allen – and soon regrets it), and later in “The Borgias” as an undertaker stunned by what he thought was a corpse.
Along with several other television roles, Mark soon began appearing in big-budget film productions as well, often as a character actor with few lines but a striking impact – in an opening scene for The Raven shot in Budapest, Edgar Allan Poe (played by John Cusack) attempts to charm a bar full of ruffians with his prose, and Mark’s character mercilessly heckles the haunted author. “If you blinked you would miss me,” Mark says, “but whilst on set I got to shoot the shit with one of my favorite stars for a couple of days.”
Mark’s other small parts in major Hollywood films include a bathing Frenchman in a Paris window espied by Selena Gomez in Monte Carlo, and more recently he played a pirate in the early moments of Hercules with Dwayne Johnson. While he enjoys the opportunities to be involved with such large-scale productions, Mark finds acting in smaller independent films to be more satisfying.
“When working on a big Hollywood project I may only have a word or two to say; you don’t have any time to show your acting skills, you’re hired because you look right,” he says. “Parts I have really enjoyed doing are when you work with a director who allows you to improvise and do what you think the character would do in the scene. I recently had that experience doing a film in London called Rise Above the Fall, an independent feature that is filming as we speak. Because there are not 100 mouths to feed and expensive locations to hire, time is not a restraint and the only objective is to get as much out of the part as you can, which helps me as an actor to grow.”
One movie role that allowed Mark considerable screen time while honing his comedic skills was 2012’s Magic Boys starring Michael Madsen, set in both Hungary and England; playing the leather-clad bouncer in a wild S&M club, Mark’s portrayal as “Zed” steals a pair of ribald scenes. “My costume was hilarious, and there were a lot of laughs had on set,” he recalls. “When the crew is laughing out loudly, you get an instant indication that you have done a good job.”
However, Mark’s most recent television role was perhaps his biggest career breakthrough yet, portraying the illusionist that inspires the career path of a child who would go on to become the planet’s most famous magician in the History Channel’s production of “Houdini”. As belle-époque era showman Dr. Lynn, Mark bisects a woman in a performance worthy of the Grand Guignol, hacking off a few extra bloody extremities in the process.
“I had a couple of lessons from David Merlini, the famous escape artist and magician, on how to saw a woman in half and chop her limbs off,” Mark says. “It was great fun and very technical, which I loved. I didn’t get the chance to share the screen with Adrien Brody, who is a favorite actor of mine, but he did come and watch a rehearsal and sat in the front row, smiling and clapping, and he introduced himself afterwards – that was good enough for me!”
Nowadays Mark is looking forward to tackling his first leading role on a U.K. film set with independent auteur Jules Bishop, but meanwhile the Budapest resident continues to enjoy his low-budget high life as a working artist here. “Catching the odd day or week on a show isn’t going to make you rich,” he says, “but if you don’t measure wealth in monetary terms, but in experience, then I feel very lucky and wealthy, and you never know what’s around the corner – I hope a lot more acting.”
