Mark-Paul Gosselaar

Mark-Paul Harry Gosselaar is an American actor born on March 1, 1974 in Panorama City, California to a Dutch father and Dutch-Indonesian mother. He is a former child model segued to acting with a 1987 guest appearance on “Highway to Heaven” and soon added roles in “Charles in Charge” and “Punky Brewster” to his resume. Gosselaar rose to fame among the “Tiger Beat” set during his four-year (1989-93) stint as the cute preppy blond Zack Morris in NBC’s “Saved by the Bell” which led to a primetime spin-off “Saved By the Bell: The College Years” and various TV-movies based on the series.
Gosselaar branched out to serve as creative consultant and host of the short-lived NBC game show "Brains and Brawn" (1993) prior moving to films. Unfortunately, most of his efforts were in low-budget genre fare that moved directly to video (i.e., "Twisted Love" 1995). The actor found a niche playing against type (and often with dark hair) in more dramatic TV-movies along the lines of his accused rapist in "She Cried No" (NBC, 1997) before heading to the big screen as a wealthy student with poor grades who seeks a loophole in the uneven comedy "Dead Man on Campus" (1998). The same year, he played the central character in the TV drama Hyperion Bay, which lasted 17 episodes. A follow-up series, the youth-minded political drama “D.C.” failed to score, however, his career fortunes soared and managed to evolve into a primetime leading man when he joined the cast of ABC’s long-running police drama “NYPD Blue” in 2001. He was also starred in the movie “The Princess and The Marine” with Marisol Nicholas.
After “NYPD Blue”, Gosselaar joined the cast of ABC's Commander in Chief, starring Geena Davis; however, that series lasted only one season. He also appeared as a guest on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” an on the HBO series “John from Cincinnati”. Soon after, he landed the role of defense attorney Jerry Kellerman in the Steven Bochoco-produced “Raising the Bar” but was cancelled after a year. He made his Off-Broadway stage debut in Theresa Rebeck’s play “The Understudy” with The Roundabout Theatre Company in October 2009 which was extended its limited New York run until January 17, 2010.