Mark Gilvary

Born in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, just outside of Glasgow, Scotland.

Started acting relatively late at the age of 23. Moved to London a year later in 1984, after winning a place at the prestigious Drama Centre London, a school that has gained a certain amount of notoriety in recent years, having produced actors such as Tom Hardy, Colin Firth & Michael Fassbender, among others.

Since then he has concentrated mainly on film work, interspersed with bouts on the Stage.

Like most actors, has spent periods of time ..."Doing Real Life"... in a range of other jobs. He has worked as a Taxi Driver, a Painter & Decorator, a Gardener, a Bartender, a Sandwich Vendor, a Builder's Labourer, a Furniture Removal Man, a Sales Assistant in a Toy Shop, a McDonald's Crew Member, a Travel Clerk, a Vehicle Delivery Driver, a Buyer for Rolls-Royce, A Spar* Retail Assistant - (*The U.K. Equivalent of a 7/11) - and a Shop Manager for Oxfam.

In addition to the above, He has taken part in Role Play Sessions with Psychiatry Students, and has worked as A Mental Health Support Worker, providing support to schizophrenics in a residential setting.

'LUCK', not surprisingly both Good and Bad has played it's part along the way! ... "There have been a few key moments when the path of destiny hit a fork, and for whatever reason, IT was NOT meant to be!" ...

1. In 1995, Film Director Ken Loach met Gilvary for the lead role of George Lennox in, - "CARLA'S SONG" - In the end, Robert Carlyle got the role. ...

2. ... In that same year, An Arthouse Short, directed by Nicolas Roeg, - "HOTEL PARADISE" - was also released starring Theresa Russell and Vincent D'Onofrio. Gilvary had a firm offer of A Pivotal Role in the film, via a message, which was left with his agent of the time, but the agent in question did not return the call to Roeg's Production Team, and subsequently the role was re-cast with another actor. ... "The message was left on My Agent's answer machine, but it was apparently 'missed'! ... Needless to say, that agent was fired!" ...

3. A couple of years later in 1997, Gilvary was seen for the role of Boab in "THE ACID HOUSE", Directed by Paul McGuigan, and Written by Irvine Welsh of "TRAINSPOTTING" fame. ... "I'd travelled up overnight on the coach from London to Glasgow to audition. And I'd already prepared by reading the book on the which the script would be based, so I'd done My Homework in advance! .... I was barely in the room, when someone said, ... 'OH! WE THOUGHT YOU WERE A FATTER GUY!' ... Trying to salvage the situation, I said, ... "Well from the way The Character comes across in the story, to me, it's more likely that He'd be a Lean, Wiry Individual, given his personality on the page!" ... At that, A Bald Head descended onto the table top in front of me! ... At the time, the significance of this didn't register, but later on I realised that it was most probably the head of Irvine Welsh! ... Needless to say, I didn't get the role!" ?:-)

4. "Then in the spring of 2000, while still in London, I was seen for what probably was, in retrospect, A Pretty Big Role, in the new season of The Scottish TV Series, ... "TAGGART". ... This was a strange experience indeed! ... Normally at a casting one might be faced with A Casting Director, and perhaps an Assistant. ... On this particular occasion, I was sat with The Casting Director, whom I knew, on one of the short sides of A Very Long Boardroom Table! ... There were at least a dozen people in the room, all looking directly at me! ... Assuming that I'd be reading, I pulled The Script towards me which was already lying on the table top in front of me. Then someone said, ... 'Don't worry about the script Mark, we just want to talk.' ... TALK? MMMM? ... Well, what happened next? ... They fired a few questions at me, asked what I'd been doing lately, I gave them an account of some of the work/projects that I'd been involved with recently, ... and so on, ... and so forth, ... and Yada! Yada! Yada! ... And then it was over, ... and I never heard anything again about it! ... But to this day, I still wonder, ... WTF THAT WAS ALL ABOUT?!!!" ?:-) ...

... "So, looking back, those were times when, ... Life could have went in a different direction! ... But, ... it didn't! ... C'EST LA VIE!" ...

In 2005 he played the Infamous Satanist Aleister Crowley in Hadi Hajaig's Supernatural Thriller - "PURITAN" - opposite Nick Moran - ("LOCK STOCK") & David Soul - ("STARSKY & HUTCH").

A year later he worked alongside Nichelle Nichols - (Lt. Uhura of "STAR TREK") - in "LADY MAGDALENE'S". In this project Gilvary played not just one, but two pivotal roles. ... An FBI Agent & an Arabic Terrorist.

More recently, he was involved as an Associate Producer on J. Neil Schulman's feature project - "ALONGSIDE NIGHT" - based on the Writer/Director's novel of the same title. The production was shot in and around Las Vegas, Nevada, from Dec 2012 to Jan 2013. Gilvary was already cast in the role of Lawrence Powers, the 'central villain' of the piece, opposite Kevin Sorbo, - ("HERCULES", "ANDROMEDA") - however, the role had to be re-cast at the eleventh hour, due to delays in the processing of his U.S. Work Visa.

Currently* - (*April 2022) - he has A Number of Productions at various stages of development including, ... 1. "STUCK PIG"* - (*A Mainstream/Arthouse Hybrid.) - Script Completed. ... 2. "SERAPHIM"** - (**A Supernatural Thriller.). - Treatment Completed. ... 3. "JOURNEY"*** - (***An Experimental Short Film.) - 26 Hours of Footage yet to be edited. May be expanded into a Feature Length Film at a future date.

[*Written By: Agent/Manager - APRIL 2022 ]