- Born
- Birth nameMark-Paul Harry Gosselaar
- Nickname
- M-P
- Height5′ 11″ (1.80 m)
- Mark-Paul Gosselaar was born March 1, 1974 in Panorama City, California. His father, Hans Gosselaar, who is from the Netherlands, is of German and Dutch Jewish descent, and was a plant supervisor at Anheuser-Busch. His mother, Paula (van den Brink), is of Dutch-Indonesian background; she worked as an airline hostess. His parents are divorced. He has an older brother, Mike, and two older sisters, Linda and Sylvia. In 1989, after a career with small movies and commercials, Gosselaar started in the teen hit Saved by the Bell (1989), co-starring Tiffani Thiessen who played his girlfriend, Kelly Kapowski, throughout the show's run. The characters eventually married each other after the show and its spin-off, Saved by the Bell: The College Years (1993) , ended production.
He starred with Geena Davis in Commander in Chief (2005) for executive producer Steven Bochco, with whom he also worked when he starred as detective John Clark in Bochco's critically-acclaimed drama NYPD Blue (1993) Gosselaar's other television credits include TV movies Atomic Twister (2002), The Princess & the Marine (2001), For the Love of Nancy (1994), Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas (1994), She Cried No (1996), Dying to Belong (1997) and Born Into Exile (1997).
On the big screen, Gosselaar appeared in Dead Man on Campus (1998), as well as the independent films Beer Money (2001) and Sticks and Stones (2008).
In 2019, Mark-Paul began starring on the show Mixed-ish (2019). He returned in a supporting role for the revival Saved by the Bell (2020), with Mitchell Hoog as his son.
Gosselaar's sporting interests include cycling, motocross and auto racing. He is also an avid pilot. Gosselaar lives outside of Los Angeles. He married model Lisa Ann Russell in 1996 in Maui, Hawaii. The two divorced in 2011. In 2012, he married advertising executive Catriona McGinn. He has two children with Lisa and two children with Catriona.- IMDb Mini Biography By: R Brown
- SpousesCatriona Gosselaar(July 28, 2012 - present) (2 children)Lisa Ann Russell(August 26, 1996 - May 27, 2011) (divorced, 2 children)
- ChildrenMichael Charles GosselaarAva Lorenn GosselaarDekker Edward GosselaarLachlyn Hope Gosselaar
- ParentsHans GosselaarPaula van den Brink
- RelativesChris Gosselaar(Niece or Nephew)Mike Gosselaar(Sibling)Linda Gosselaar(Sibling)Sylvia Gosselaar(Sibling)
- Colored his hair blonde in every episode of Saved by the Bell (1989) and wears a blonde wig in the 2020 reboot.
- Spoke fluent Dutch at home as a child.
- Still keeps in touch with his Saved by the Bell (1989) co-star Mario Lopez.
- In a 2019 chat on TV with host Andy Cohen, he was asked when he had last spoken to former Saved by the Bell (1989) costar Dustin Diamond, and quickly responded "1994". That fit into the timeline where the famous cast (along with Mario Lopez, Tiffani Thiessen, Elizabeth Berkley, and Lark Voorhies) filmed together for the last time in 1994 on a two-hour TV movie, Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas (1994). They also reunited in Saved by the Bell: The New Class (1993) episode, Goodbye Bayside: Part 2 (1994) that same year in late 1994. They recently reunited briefly at a convention in 2019 in Canada where they took photo ops promoting the show's 30th anniversary.
- His Dutch Jewish paternal great-grandparents, Hartog "Herman" Gosselaar and Hester van Emden, were killed in The Holocaust. They died in the Sobibor extermination camp, in Nazi-occupied Poland, on April 9, 1943.
- I always have this feeling that I'm losing everything, so I'm a real saver.
- But I plan on dedicating specific training to track this winter for the next racing season.
- The biggest challenge has been simulating a tornado with wind machines and dirt and debris. Right when you walk on the set, you feel the energy of a tornado. But the hardest thing is trying to get dialogue out in all of that.
- I have always had good strength in my legs from working out with weights. I have also been riding a bike of some sort for most of my life and have good agility.
- But my passion is racing cars. It's what I like to do in my off time.
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