Mark Jacobson is determined to beat the odds and make it big in the world of TV and film. His most recent success is a clever collaboration with Samsung Mobile called “Keep on Pushing,” a short movie featuring Mark and the 2014 Jamaican Olympic bobsled team. The team had to overcome tremendous obstacles to even make it to the games, from a lack of money for practices to some of their equipment not making it to Sochi. Yet they have a way about them that made them the “darlings” of the games and earned them financial support from Samsung and others. As the movie, viewable on YouTube.com, says: “You Are What You Dream.”
Overcoming obstacles is a way of life for this 24-year-old, talented young man who was born and raised in Phoenix. When Mark was 12, his father, Dan, had a sudden stroke, which proved fatal. Mark, his mother, Jan, and his grandmother, Tobie Sikov, were devastated. But Mark received some solace from the outpouring of care and concern his family received from Congregation Beth El synagogue members. Mark had attended preschool there and was going to Hebrew school, but hadn’t realized how important the Beth El community was until this time. His mother let him decide if he wanted to continue his bar mitzvah training, and Mark knew as soon as he walked into the education building and felt a warm blanket wrap around him that “this was where I needed to be.” He became a bar mitzvah through Beth El the following year, and truly picked up the mantle of being a “man,” understanding, with a depth well beyond his years, his new responsibilities to his mother.
Mark was also interested in theater and began his explorations at the Curtain Call summer camps of Arizona Jewish Theatre Company. “I played a prince to a much taller Cinderella,” he remembers with a grin. He participated in youth theater in middle school and attended Arizona School for the Arts for high school. As a member of a graduating class of just 39 students, Mark was able to specialize and hone his skills. He was off to college at USC with a double major in theater and broadcast journalism. His mother was a radio producer for several stations in town and naturally took a great deal of pride in the decisions Mark was making and the direction he was heading.
Then tragedy struck once more. At the beginning of Mark’s sophomore year, Jan was in a car accident that left her in a coma. Again the Beth El community rallied to support Mark and his grandmother, giving them shoulders to lean on and creating lasting friendships. Jan remained in a coma for nearly two years before she passed. Mark came to Phoenix regularly to check on his mother and to help his grandmother. “My grandmother is my rock, and I know I’m hers as well,” he says. They still see each other at least every month. Mark either flies her out to LA to see a performance he’s in, or he returns to Phoenix to help with the family paperwork and concerns.
“There’s a little frustration on my part because my grandmother, who is 87, doesn’t understand anything about the Internet, and not much about my job either. And she manages to embarrass me regularly as she tells her friends all about my adventures. But I know she does it because she loves me and is filled with ‘nachas,’ ” he smiles. “She is an amazing woman. She still volunteers every Thursday at White Dove Thrift Shoppe. It’s run by Hospice of the Valley, and she’s grateful for the care my mother received.”
Mark feels fortunate to be one of the few young actors who can say that he has been consistently busy since he graduated. He does his “homework,” seeking out companies and venues that match his values and aspirations. He embodies the same kind of determination and dedication that the Jamaican bobsled team demonstrated. He truly believes “you are what you dream.” Mark’s been very busy during pilot-season auditions, so keep an eye out!
To view the four-part, 20-minute web movie, go to: youtube.com/ watch?v=jocrBRcYAEs
