Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark Allyn.
Mark, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I had done acting in high school in Encinitas and local San Diego theatre briefly, but nothing really professional. I officially started out in the entertainment industry in radio in the mid-1980s as a disk jockey and doing odds and ends after high school. But it wasn’t what I thought it would be, or what I had in my head it was going to be, so I decided to do something else. I went to Australia and spent some time there trying to figure out what I was going to do next. I was a songwriter/musician (playing drums, guitar and bass-all at once it was a mess!) playing in cover bands in town and really wanted to do more producing and publishing. So, I started working with a few artists in Sydney area and developed my producing style there.
I came back to the States in 1985 and went to work with some local bands producing demo packages and EP’s that would get sent up to LA or New York to showcase the bands in hopes that they would get signed. I also set up my publishing business through BMI and went to work publishing music of other artists and myself. I worked with some pretty cool musicians over the course of about ten years and had some successes and some glorious failures. But also got to meet some artists that I considered my music heroes. It all slowed to a stop in the mid-’90s when I went to a private show that David Lee Roth put on at this cool little 500-capacity club called the Belly Up Tavern. It is a great venue for watching blues and other types of shows in an intimate setting, but Roth played the show like he was in a stadium-just this massive wall of loudness. I walked out of there with something called tinnitus or “ringing in the ears”. It lasted for three months, and after that, I couldn’t really hear the sounds; the highs and lows, I needed to when I was in the studio.
So essentially, I had to retire from music. Leave that world behind. And that was tough in a way because I was really happiest sitting behind a board creating music with people. Around that time, my oldest son was at a place where he needed orthodontics, and making money in the music industry can really be up and down. I needed something [making a flatline gesture] steady. After some soul searching, I decided to leave music behind and get a job into the corporate world. I ended up being a Project Management Professional in the tech and industrial industries for over 20+ years. In 2014, after getting unceremoniously laid off from a computer company that sounds a lot like “smell,” at 48 years old, I decided to return to my “roots” and do something that made me happy. And that was getting back into acting and voice work. And I have been doing that for the past five years. The important thing to me is, although I am making a fraction of what I made in the soul-sucking corporate world, I am having the time of my life!
Has it been a smooth road?
Right off the bat, the entertainment industry had changed so much from when I was involved back in the ’80s and ’90s. All aspects of entertainment. In the radio, everything is more corporate and formulaic. Very little room for independent programming. Although that might be called “pirate radio”? In music, they don’t even have records or CD’s anymore! I talk to people about walking into a studio with a reel of 2″ virgin tape and they look at me like I am a dinosaur [laughs]. Everything is digital. It’s also extremely corporate. Things have changed a lot on the visual performance side (in TV & Film) in the way auditions are handled and how you present yourself. But one of the biggest changes was the Internet and how it has created so much opportunity to create your own content and create a brand for yourself in the entertainment industry.
For a 48-year-old man getting back into the business, I was kind of unsure of how I would jump back into the business. It was definitely an adjustment. I understood about getting the headshots and taking classes and all of that, which is essential for an actor or artist. But I was 48, and going into it I knew I couldn’t compete with the 20 or 30-somethings. I had to step back a little for me to realize that I didn’t have to compete with them. They were not in my demographic in the same way that they couldn’t compete for a late-40’s role. I realized that there were plenty of opportunities waiting for me to go after once I embraced who I was; an older graying late 40’s guy. It took a little while to figure out what best suited me. I think that was my major obstacle, starting off, trying to figure out who I was and what demo I fit in.
There were other bumps and hurdles that come with starting out, like finding representation. But I think it takes perseverance, focus and commitment. Sometimes you have to take small jobs or low paying (or no paying!) jobs to get clips to make a reel and build a resume of sorts. That’s what I knew I had to do. Your resume doesn’t have to be extensive. Take classes and work on your craft. Get quality headshots that represent who you are. Then network. Knock on people’s doors (virtually or otherwise). Be professional and try to maintain your positivity. Maintaining focus and positivity makes those hurdles feel more like bumps. There are lots of good people out there that can help guide you through starting out and to help set career goals.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
I am an actor and a voice artist professional. I do theatrical work on television, film and new media/online projects. I can do comedy as well as dramatic work. I also do commercial work both regionally and nationally. With my voice work, I focus on narration projects, commercial voice work and e-learning. There have been a few voice projects that have been animation-related or game-related characters, but I usually leave those up to the guys who do it so much better than me-that’s all they do, and they do it well. I am the most proud of the fact that there isn’t another Mark Allyn with my last name spelled the way it is, on IMDB or in the Screen Actors Guild [laughs]!
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I am a second-generation San Diegan (yes, that’s the right way to say it)! I think San Diego and the surrounding area is the best place in the world. And my hometown of Encinitas (north of San Diego) is even better! I have lived in Sydney, San Francisco and San Diego area and I just think it is the best. Maybe I just like the letter “S”? Or maybe it’s the bay area type of city that appeals to me? But you can’t beat the weather here. It’s better than anywhere else. Seventy-two degrees is the average temp with 12 days of rain? Yes, please!
I am not a big fan of the tourists that invade San Diego County in the late Spring/Summer, but I understand why they come here. I’m not an angry local, don’t get me wrong. There used to be a bumper sticker that said, “Welcome to San Diego- Now go home!” but I was never that hardcore. I just don’t like the traffic and congestion that goes with it, that’s really it. I feel like the county expands too fast or builds without a long-term plan. Lastly, I don’t like that we don’t support our sports teams the way other city’s do. And now we are the shortlist of cities that have lost their a major franchise and not replaced it with another. Don’t get me started on that. But overall, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. At least once a week, I get asked by various people if and when I would move up to LA to be closer to work? My standard answer is “leave paradise for a paved parking lot? No, thank you. I’m good here.”
Contact Info:
- Website: www.markallyn.net
- Email: booking@markallyn.net
- Instagram: TheMarkAllyn
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/markallynactor
- Twitter: @MarkAllyn
Image Credit:
Personal Photo – Photography by Emily Sandifer
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