Who the hell is Mark Doerr?

Yup. I'm an actor. No you probably haven't heard of me. Since actors who only talk about themselves and their career bore the crap outta me, I'm gonna tell you a little bit about some of my other interests. However...let's be honest...this IS a site about me...so here's some dry, nutshell-like biographical info to put it all into some sort of context.

I'm originally from Detroit. I got started onstage in the 2nd grade. We were learning a bunch of songs and dances and everyone got really cool costumes for this show we were going to put on for our families. I was crushed when I was told I wouldn't be in the show. Instead they gave me a microphone and made me the emcee which was pretty cool too. Though it makes sense that the only white kid in the class would be the emcee for Martin Luther King Elementary School's 2nd grade class production, "A Tribute to Africa," I still carry the scars.

After getting kicked out of a Detroit Public School a few years later (long story) I found myself at a Quaker School downtown. When we weren't trying to stave off the school's financial ruin, I got a good education and did a version of A Christmas Carol. It was a ton of fun because I made up new lines every night in an effort to make everyone laugh. It worked, and a life's purpose was found.

I attended the University of Michigan as a musical theatre major and Juilliard as an actor. Lots of long stories about both. Maybe we should meet for a pint somewhere? In addition to New York and Los Angeles, I've studied acting in England and Moscow and been very fortunate to work with some amazing people. I'm VERY happy to be back on the boards after such a long absence. "Absent why," you ask? Read on....

Bill Shanks & me at INTA '05

I love puzzles and figuring out better ways to do things. Most day-job employers call that a "problem-solver." What better way to express that than running a business? In 1998 I helped found and run a small intellectual property investigations firm. The company took off...so much so that it swallowed me whole. My main responsibility in the early days was creating our tech systems and making sure they worked. So I built our databases, got us online, setup shell companies...the usual thing. Of course I had a hand in everything; sales, IT, finance, HR. After a few years I became a travelling sales man and though it was fun, and I met a ton of really great people from all around the world, I finally decided to leave to pursue my acting career once again.

The company is called Marksmen and our main job is to investigate worldwide use of trademarks, patents, copyrights and internet domain names. We have 2 offices (Los Angeles and Chapel Hill) and a huge client base of attorneys and companies from around the world. Check out the Marksmen website to see all the cool stuff we do.

For a number of years before that I was a computer consultant, helping small businesses get up and running technologically. It started as simple desktop support and evolved to more involved things such as network configuration/installation and custom Filemaker Pro database design. I'm not really interested in doing this kind of work anymore, as my last few clients will tell you.

Over the years I've had some other strange day-jobs; working in the plaster shop of an iron foundry for automotive prototypes, manager of a slot car raceway, tele-fundraiser for non-profit organizations. The list goes on but those are the most intriguing ones....