Mark Feakins

Follow Mark on Instagram: @markfeakins

Mark was born in Sussex on the south coast of England in the same year as Daniel Craig, Hugh Jackman, Kylie Minogue and Gary Coleman from TV's "Different Strokes" - but has never received a birthday card from any of them.

After completing a degree he has never used, in Librarianship and Information, in Brighton, he moved to London to attend drama school in the 1990's. He worked as a professional actor and director for a number of years mostly in theatre, but also making very brief appearances in TV series such as 'Inspector Morse'.

After setting up his own theatre company, he decided to move into theatre management and worked as Administrator and Programmer of the UCL Bloomsbury Theatre, before becoming the first General Manager of The Young Vic Theatre. He was part of the management team for the major redevelopment of the theatre building and in 2004 when the theatre won an Olivier Award for their entire season of work.

Mark then moved to Sheffield - the friendliest city in the world - to take up the role as the first Executive Producer of Sheffield Theatres, working across the three venues of The Crucible Theatre, Studio and The Lyceum Theatre. After twenty years working in professional theatre it was then time for a change and he set out on his own. He created Marmalade Photography (named after the colour of his cat, Henderson) and won the award for Best Wedding Photographer in Yorkshire for three consecutive years. He also managed to appear in (and win) 'Come Dine With Me' on Channel 4, direct half a dozen major community musical theatre productions and meet and marry his husband, Martin.

In 2019 he and Martin became 'jubilados' or retirees in the Valencia region of Spain. Since retiring Mark has begun to write, with the ambition of producing warm, fun, moving books that he cannot seem to find in bookshops.

You can follow his work as an author and artist on Instagram @markfeakins