Meet Mark Larwood | Actor, Writer, Producer, Director, Filmmaker, Musician, Comedian

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mark Larwood and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mark, how do you think about risk?
In the last 5 years since I’ve lived in LA, one of the things I’ve realized is that me taking risks means that it’s going to cost me something and by cost, I mean getting out of my comfort zone. An example of that was for 3 years, from 3rd grade to 5th grade, I had to transition from to school to school and I honestly was afraid of being the new kid and trying to make friends. But one thing I’ve managed to do was to share my talents with these people and I’m forever grateful that they have given the opportunity to show them who I am despite my strengths and weaknesses and I have so many great memories with these people because I had the chance to the best of version of myself that I can be. Another example was after I graduated high school, I decided I wanted to be an actor but not leave the Bay Area and I continued to change my mind on what I wanted to do for a career throughout my time at West Valley Community College in Saratoga, California and school was hard for me and my parents knew that I was struggling and wasn’t happy so they encouraged to drop some of my classes and look for a job for the time being while I decided what I wanted to do. I’ll knew I wanted to be an actor in 2017. I was 23 years old at the time and I was still living in my parents in Saratoga. I started off my training at the First Take Acting School and I attended classes taught by Susan Chung, casting director workshops, agent workshops & on-camera classes. It was my first time acting on film when I took the on-camera class. . While still studying at First Take I decided that it was time for me to live on my own and I moved to Redwood City in January 2018. It was a newer experience and although I was glad I made this great transition in my life, I was really felt lonely because most I started feeling like I needed a change and I knew that I had to advocate for myself and let my parents know that I wanted to pursue acting in LA. So I moved here in March 2019 and started and it was different that I expected, because I was a new town all by myself but all I knew I needed to do was adapt to the change and make the best out of it. I took an acting class at the Andrew Wood Acting Studio and learned the Stanislavski method. It really taught me how to be more introspective as an artist and really become that character. My dream was to be a film & TV actor, so I wanted to look at some other places, I looked at the Sanford Meisner Center in Burbank but I decided that it wasn’t really for me so later I did my research and found a place called the Richard Lawson Studios and saw they had Professional Development Courses. After my interview at the Richard Lawson Studios, I had a really great feeling that this was the place for me and here are five years later and not only am I still an actor, but I’ve become a writer, producer, director, stand up comedian, and filmmaker. I am forever grateful to this community for helping me create this path for myself.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
One thing I think that sets me apart from others is I always like to keep an open mind and it doesn’t matter how hard something is, if I know I need to get something despite having all kinds of doubts and considerations, I make sure that I get that thing done without making excuses. I’m really proud of how far I’ve come because even when we’ve had things like the pandemic & the strike, I’ve managed to continue my journey as an artist. Although the pandemic was a challenging time, I was fortunate that the Richard Lawson Studios was going to to start having some modular classes, Professional Development classes, & Scene Study classes again all of which I took. And I began trusting myself as an artist and really made sure that I was taking the right steps to making dreams come true. Not only has my studies at RLS helped me with my craft but I’ve been fortunate enough to have teachers that make sure that I’m taking care of myself as an artist and as a person. They’ve helped me throughout my moments of anxiety & depression. They really have taught me that it’s important that we all love ourselves and that we are enough as we are. They and along with along with all of the members of the RLS community have really helped me believe in myself and I love them all. I’ve learned that even when you have to things that are out of your comfort zone, you have to trust yourself and that you can do it. Since moving to LA & being at RLS, I’ve really learned how to celebrate the process and not think about the end result. And it’s taught me to have fun with the journey I’m on. If there’s anything I want the world to know about me is that I am someone who never gives up even when times are hard and because I believe in myself and in my dreams, I want to encourage others to believe in themselves and their dreams as well.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Well for me I’ve had multiple friends and family visits. And in those visits, I’ve been able to take these people to my favorite restaurants like EAT in North Hollywood for breakfast, the Fat Dog in North Hollywood, Pitfire Pizza in North Hollywod, or Joan’s on Third in Studio City to name a few. I have friends & family members who are big baseball fans as am I so I would take them to an Angels game or Dodgers game if my San Francisco Giants were in town. I’ve also been able to go to Universal Studios and Disneyland with some of these people as well.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Honestly, I have so many people I would like to dedicate this Shoutout to. Obviously, I do want dedicate this to my parents Mark & Sally Larwood, my sisters Emily, Casey & Claire, and all of my aunts, uncles & cousins on both sides of my family for their nonstop support. I also would like to dedicate this to all of my classmates & teachers from St. Joseph School in Menlo Park, CA, Charles Armstrong in Belmont, CA & St. Lawrence Academy in Santa Clara, CA. Because of all of them, they helped understand who I was, how I needed to improve on myself, and gave me the chance development talents like singing, playing guitar & acting & how not to be afraid to share those talents. I want to dedicate Susan Chung & Andrew Wood for teaching how to become comfortable as an actor whether on film or on stage. They all really helped me become the person that I am today. And of course, I want to dedicate this to all of my friends at the Richard Lawson Studios especially the ones who have mentored me in the last 5 years and have help me develop the skills to be the artist that I am today, which includes, Richard Lawson, Kelly Tighe, Jorge Ortiz, Lindsay Hopper, Beth Berlin, Maia Modeste & Tom Ayers.

Instagram: @mlarwood04

Facebook: Mark Larwood

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@marklarwood3999

Image Credits
Personal Photo: Corey Barker
Additional Photos:
Photo #1 – Steven Foley
Photo #2 – Emily Sandifer
Photo #3 – Corey Barker
Photo #4 – Corey Barker