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Mark Paul Gossellar made pop culture history in the ‘90s thanks to his role as Zack Morris on Saved by the Bell. Even though he’s gone on to star in shows like NYPD Blue, Raising the Bar and Franklin Bash, he’ll always Zack Morris to so many of us. In celebration of his birthday, here are 10 things you didn’t know about the former teen heartthrob:
Mark’s father is of German and Dutch Jewish descent and his mother is of Indonesian and Dutch descent.
The actor, now 41, began working in the entertainment business when he was five. He appeared in commercials for Oreos and Smurf merchandise.
The former Saved By The Bell star’s hair isn’t actually blonde. He dyed it to play Zack Morris on the show.
When Saved by the Bell was in production, Gosselaar dated all three of his female co-stars (Lark Voorhies, Tiffani Thiessen, and Elizabeth Berkley) at different times.
The father-of-four is a sports car enthusiast, a race car driver, a track cyclist, a dirt biker, and a pilot.
After Saved by the Bell: The College Years ended, Mark found himself pigeonholed as an actor and struggled to get work, which is why he appeared in a number of made-for-TV movies.
(c)NBC/courtesy Everett Collection
Mark’s mother was his manager; however, in 1996, he severed ties with both his parents to gain monetary control over his career.
Gosselaar doesn’t come from a wealthy family. His mother was a hostess for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and his father was a plant supervisor for Anheuser-Busch. As a child star, it didn’t take long for Mark Paul to start out-earning his parents.
The Franklin & Bash star was fluent in Dutch when he was growing up.
Mark Paul has been married twice. He met his first wife, Lisa Ann Russell, on the set of Saved by the Bell in 1993; she had a small part on the show. They were married in 1996 and divorced in 2010, after having two children together. He married Catriona McGinn (pictured below), an advertising marketing executive, in 2012. They have two children together as well.
Photo by Chelsea Lauren/Variety/REX Shutterstock
Cate has a B.A. and an M.A. in English Literature and has been the Managing Editor of Fame10 for more than 6 years. Despite having a love for the works of Thomas Hardy, Leo Tolstoy and Lord Byron, she also has an intense fascination with pop culture. When she isn’t writing for Fame10, she’s planning her next big adventure in Southeast Asia.
