Mark when did you start training in Martial Arts and was your Dad a big inspiration to you?

Oh, my father is still a big inspiration to me and I thought I didn’t start training until I was 6 or 7 but I picked that I was training when I was 4 years old, I copied him and posed or so. I am not sure when I started training.

I heard you were kicking before you even got out of the womb.

Ja, that could have been. I was anxious getting out of there.

Now Mark, I mean you are actually the biggest feather in your cap right now. You did the television series "The Crow" for a couple of years. I mean when you got into Martial Arts did you eventually see yourself in a major television role or what was in your mind at that point?

The thing is, that when I got into Martial Arts or actually when I came out of my mama’s womb, practising Martial Arts was never, not until my early 20^th, was never an idea of making my profession. I did it because I just loved the feeling when I practised Martial Arts. My whole family did it and I loved Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee and my father and mother, I just loved it. It was a pure joy. And when I got into acting the Martial Arts has been a huge plus.

What was your first role in acting?

My first role was when I was 19 years old, I was walking through San Francisco China Town. This director asked me if I want to try for this movie. So I did.

So, he stopped you and said, hi, come here, you want to try out for a movie?

Basically, which was scary is that it was in China Town. But I went in the audition and it happened to be a movie and the first day on the set I found myself opposite the lovely and talented Joan Chen and made it out with her. And that was my introduction to the film business.

Your first movie you get to make it out with Joan Chen.

I never wanted to stop!

I just wanted everybody to know that we are risking serious injury from Dale. I am sorry, I don’t know who Joan Chen is. Oh Dale, got on looking at him.

Should I.

Ja, go ahead.

Oh, one of the big things she did is the movie called "the last emperor" directed Bernardo Bertolucci, staring John Lone. Joan Chen played the first empress. She was also in Twin Peak and she recently directed a movie and I cannot remember the name but it was with Richard Gere and Winona Ryder and she directed an amazing movie in Tibet called Xiu Xiu.

 What happened after that. Did you get more offers after you have done that movie?

In the contrary. I did that when I was 19. I ended up shooting that movie twice and the director Wayne Wang changed the first version, changed it and the my scene with Joan Chen ended up on the cutting board, so we are not even in the finished product. But that was my first experience and the outtake was given to an outtake competition in New York and I think it got 2. place actually I still have a copy so.

Oh cool. An outtake competition. We were just talking about that before we got you guys on the show about how fun it is to watch the Jackie Chan outtakes. So how did they judge them?

Do you know, I don’t know. Joan sent me the tape and I was just happy that our kiss was in there.

Can you fumble up a kissing scene where you can laugh about is that what is even happening.

Oh ja that can happen. and there are always these weird situations if you and the actress or depending what you were working with, not talk about how far or what you want to do in the scene. There is this little bit of awkward moment, to tongue or not.

Is there a course of filmschool where you learn how to do that filmkiss.

There should be. That’s a good point, there should be.

You are 19 years old like some guy is coming up to you. You were not thinking about going into movies or something like, some director is coming up to you and says to you, you want to come up in a film and then you find out you were working with this big actress. And Wayne Wang is a hugh director. Were you really nervous for that scene like. I can just see. You are 19, you have to be nervous anyways.

Well, I was definitely nervous but back then it was Joan’s first movie in America and here in the States she was still unknown. and that was Wayne Wang’s second movie because he was really unknown. And I had not heard of either of them and I hadn’t done a movie or stepped on a set or anything. So I was even nervous to begin with.

The whole thing about having to re-shoot a movie. I mean how often does that happen. You wrapped the movie and then the phone rang and it is like no, you got to come back and redo some scenes.

 Yes exactly. That happens not too often, but it does happen. Absolutely. It has to do with how a scene turns out or the ending or what ever and you want to change a field. So they like to redo a couple of scenes.

How long was it until you got your next role?

Oh let’s see. I didn’t do anything moviewise for years, but I did a play called West Side Story about a year later up in Portland Oregon.

Well Mark, the Crow obvious is kind of synonymous with, well I guess that’s more my opinion, mabe you crake me there, with Brandon Lee. Did you feel any pressure to basically follow in his footsteps. Because Brandon Lee was killed during the filming of the movie "The Crow"?

Absolutely. Brandon comes form Bruce Lee that alone made him famous and then he did great in his own career and he did an excellent job with the Crow. So yes, when I was asked for the role of Eric Draven in the series, I did feel pressure but not pressure of being like Brandon. Because only Brandon can be Brandon. I just wanted to put out a character that came from my heart and was entertaining as possible and inspiring to the audience. I just felt pressure because I just wanted to do a good job.

So you basically went in there and did your thing?

That’s all I could do. I mean for me to try to copy Brandon would have been ludicrous. Who could that except Brandon?

You know you had a huge complement paid to you, not only by Pat Johnson , we where talking to Pat before we had him on the show last couple weeks ago. But you had a huge from one of the top film fight choreographers in Vancouver Mike Cretejo, who said that you were as good or better than Brandon Lee but you did it in your own persona. So instead of trying to copy Brandon you were being yourself. And you did an incredible job like you got so much respect from the stunt industry in Vancouver, it’s amazing.

Thank you. I appreciate that. I had the good fortune working with Mike Cretejo on a movie called Crying Freeman as well and if you meet this guy tell him I said hello.

Mark, when did you wrap the Crow?

About 2 and a half years ago.

I am seeing trailers on TV like it is 6 month ago. Well, it is still playing. Well, I mean, Mark, the Crow is in syndication so, so in the US it is certainly in syndication and through out the world.

Actually I was in France last year working on a movie and they just started playing it over there.

So it is in syndication all over the world. Which television network was it carrying in the US, was it UPN.

That’s a good question.

No that was fox.

It was on Scifi on the weekends.

So you got your first role walking through China town in San Francisco. How did you wind up landing your part in the Crow?

Many years later, many acting classes and jobs later, Ed Pressman and one of his partners approached my representatives and asked if I would possibly doing the series. And I wanted absolutely. So I had a full on screen test with wig and make-up, actually it was a 4 hour screen test. I did three different things and a week later they called up and said I had the part. That’s a fantastic role because I think Eric Draven has so much heart and Brandon did a good job portraying him.

I got a picture of you on my wall on my office with you standing there in a fighting pose and two guyes on fire, one on either side. On was Bill Ferguson and the other was Owen Walsten Two friends of mine that I work with. And I ma thinking did you do a lot of dangerous stuff in that show?

 In Crying Freeman or in the Crow.

In the Crow.

Oh, no, everything was very very safe.

Because I was thinking that these guys on fire and they were really close to you and there were in full burn. And it seems that you were very close to them.

I think that picture was taken from the movie Crying Freeman.

Oh, it was not from the Crow. Oh I did not know from what it was taken from. Oh, so in Crying Freeman did you do much stuff that was fairly dangerous.

A few things. I think that was the one that took it.

Because it looks like, I didn’t see the movie, so I don’t know the context of it. But when you were fighting these guys and they were starting on fire?

Yes. I talked with Mike and, Scott Gere, who was our stunt coordinator and they said it’s dangerous but they thought I can do it so they ran a screen thought and they said it was safe and I said I want to do it and sure I said absolutely and Christophe, our director, loved it because he would have to shoot around a double and could just have me in during the whole scene and I did it and they were save and sound and I was fine.

Well, I have a fantastic shoot about that scene. If you don’t have it, I can send it down to you.

Excellent, I love it, thank you.

You know Mark, we had one week or so ago, her name was Jacky Rufner and one of the things she had mentioned was kind of wonky with the film industry was, that they would hire these actors and actresses to play action roles and have to go and get a stuns double for doing the serious stuff. In the Crow did you do all of your stunts?

No. I did a lot, the first 12 or 14 episodes but Mike cut a lot and in a TV series we have 7 days to shoot an episode. So while I was doing dialog they were maybe doing pick up shoots for fights or just some running around action. So there is a whole teameffort on a TV show. As opposed in China, I shot a movie with Stanley Tong. Most of the actors/actresses can not only fight but act and also had singing or music contracts.

Mark you have been successful prior to the TV series the Crow and because that did very well in syndication around the world . You got a new project going on. A movie project?

Actually after the Crow I did 4 movies. The next being in America is called "Le Pacte des Loups" in French or "Brotherhood of the Wolf" which is coming through Universal and will be released in the States Nov. 2.

Are they showing trailers for that already?

Not yet. I think this week or the week after.

Oh, because I didn’t read something about it, coming out so I was not sure if they were already advertising it.

It will start shortly.

Through Paramount Pictures? What is the name of the movie?

Well, actually Universal and it is called "Brotherhood of the Wolf".

Was this a big budget film?

For France it was a 30 or 35 Mio. $ it’s a movie shot in the French language. It will have English subtitles, it’s a period piece with action, politics, adventure and a lot of cool stuff.

We will go and see it. It sounds good. You say it was shot in French. Did you have to speak French or did you speak English and they just got in.

I play a Mohawk Indian and I am speaking Mohawk and French.

Now. That’s interesting. This is kind of cool that this movie is coming out after Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, because what happened, I believe is that Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was the first film to be shown in America that was big that had subtitles. and it was always a struggle for film people to their film producers to bring an audience in if there were subtitles. So it was always dedicated to art house theatre and stuff like that. When Crouching Tiger was so successful I think it paved the way now for you. What do you think?

It think it certainly, it has helped absolutely.