Desperate Housewives

Background:

“As an actor, if you're doing a lot of serious stuff, you want to do something funny. If you're doing a lot of funny stuff, you want to do something serious and meaningful.” Mark Moses

American character actor Mark Moses is perhaps best known to television audience as the mysterious Paul Young on the ABC hit series “Desperate Housewives” (2004-2007). While on the show, he won two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Prior to landing the coveted role, Moses appeared in reoccurring roles on NBC's “Grand” (1990) and “Ally McBeal” (2001-2002) and in episodes of such popular shows as “Party of Five,” “Diagnosis Murder,” “Chicago Hope,” “Touched by an Angel,” “Star Trek: Voyager,” “JAG,” “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” “The Practice,” “ER,” “7th Heaven,” “The West Wing,” “Malcolm in the Middle” and “NYPD Blue.” He also played the role of Matt Parker on the NBC sitcom “The Single Guy” (1995-1996) and acted in several movies, including Oliver Stone's “Platoon” (1986), “Born on the Fourth of July” (1989) and “The Doors” (1991), Lance Dickson's “Hollywood Heartbreak” (1990), Ronald F. Maxwell's “Gettysburg” (1993), Mimi Leder's “Deep Impact” (1998), “James Dean” (2001, TV), Sean McNamara's “Race to Space” (2002) and Brett Ratner's “Red Dragon” (2002) and “After the Sunset” (2004). He also appeared as Emily Procter's bad tempered husband in the Martin Lawrence hit comedy “Big Momma’s House 2” (2006). Mark’s career has continued to flourish with an additional reoccurring role in “Mad Men” (2007-2009), episode roles in such popular series as “Human Target” (2010) and “CSI: Miami: (2010) and he will costar in Rob Shiller’s upcoming comedy “And They’re Off” (2011).

Moses is the husband of actress Annie LaRussa. The couple has one son named Walker. Mark’s brother, Burke Moses, is also an actor.

Poker Fan

Childhood and Family:

Mark W. Moses was born on February 24, 1958, in New York, New York. He has a younger brother named Burke Moses (born on December 10, 1959). Mark studied English at Ithaca College in New York and later graduated with a degree in drama from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

Mark is married to actress Annie LaRussa. They have one son together, Walker Moses, who was born in 1993.

An avid poker player, Mark has appeared on “Celebrity Poker Showdown.”

Big Momma’s House 2

Career:

New York native Mark Moses appeared in summer stock productions and toured Europe while moonlighting as a house painter. Getting his first stage experience alongside Peter Gallagher in a production of “Another Country” at the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven, CT, he went on to act in regional theater and off-Broadway in New York City. He collected early TV credits with recurring roles on the daytime soap operas “One Life to Live” (ABC), “Guiding Light” and “As the World Turns” (both CBS). His first major prime time role arrived in 1985 when he was cast as General Ulysses S. Grant in the historical miniseries “North and South” (ABC), which starred Patrick Swayze and James Read.

Thanks to his good acting opposite Sean Penn and Kevin Bacon in “Slab Boys,” his first Broadway performance, Moses landed a spot in the Oliver Stone high profile war film “Platoon” (1986), which starred Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe and Charlie Sheen. His subsequent roles include Win Hockings in the disappointment “Someone to Watch Over Me” (1987) by director Ridley Scott, and a doctor in the Tom Cruise vehicle “Born on the Fourth of July” (1989), a second project with Oliver Stone. In between, he made the TV films “The Silence at Bethany” (1988) and “The Tracker” (1988), costarring Kris Kristofferson and Scott Wilson.

Moses got his first starring role in features in 1990 when Lance Dickson cast him in the independent film “Hollywood Heartbreak,” alongside Ron Karabatsos. Guest roles on such TV shows as “Matlock” and “The Golden Girl” followed before he secured a reoccurring role as the boyfriend of Pamela Reed, Richard Peyton, on the short lived NBC sitcom “Grand” (all 1990). The following years found Moses appearing in Oliver Stone's “The Doors” (1991), the independent comedy “Dead Men Don't Die” (1991), the epic “Gettysburg” (1993, starred Tom Berenger and Martin Sheen), the straight-to-video-thriller “A Kiss Goodnight” (1994) and in episodes of “Silk Stalkings,” “The Commish” (both 1994), “Party of Five,” “The 5 Mrs. Buchanans” (both 1995) and “Diagnosis Murder” (1994 and 1995).

Moses did not make his debut as a series regular until he was cast as Matt Parker in the first season of the NBC sitcom “The Single Guy” (1995-1996). After leaving the series, he appeared as Woodbury Kane in the TNT two part miniseries “Rough Riders” (1997), starred in the comedy “Just In Time” (1997), had a featured role in the Mimi Leder blockbuster “Deep Impact” (1998), was reunited with his “Gettysburg” costar Tom Berenger for the movie “One Man's Hero” (1999) and portrayed the husband of Debby Boone in the family film “Treehouse Hostage” (1999), which was directed by Sean McNamara. He also remained busy on the small screen with roles in CBS' “Chicago Hope” (1998), “Pensacola: Wings of Gold” (1999), CBS' “Family Law” (1999), CBS' “Touched by an Angel” (1999) and UPN's “Star Trek: Voyager” (1999).

Following several more guest stints on the TV shows “Judging Amy,” “JAG,” “Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction” and “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” Moses returned to the made-for-TV realm to play Dick Clayton in the TNT biopic “James Dean” (2001), starring James Franco. He then appeared on the big screen in “Race to Space” (2002) and in two episodes of the series “Star Trek: Enterprise” (2001). He next portrayed characters in the movie “The Remembering Movies” (2002) and Brett Ratner's “Red Dragon” (2002, starred Anthony Hopkins, Edward Norton and Ralph Fiennes) and in episodes of “Ally McBeal,” “Providence,” “The Practice,” “ER,” “7th Heaven,” “The West Wing,” “Malcolm in the Middle,” “Las Vegas” and “NYPD Blue.” Moses also had small roles in the NBC movie “Saving Jessica Lynch” (2003), the comedy film “A One Time Thing” (2004), the Pierce Brosnan-Salma Hayek action comedy “After the Sunset” (2004) and the movie “Monster-In-Law” (2005), which starred Jennifer Lopez, Jane Fonda, Michael Vartan and Wanda Sykes. He gained further notice for his portrayal of Tom Fuller in the sequel “Big Momma’s House 2” (2006), starring Martin Lawrence, was cast in the D.B. Sweeney award winning comedy “Two Tickets to Paradise” (2006) and appeared in the Clint Eastwood war film “Letters from Iwo Jima” (2006).

In 2004, Moses won the role of Paul Young on the popular series “Desperate Housewives,” which starred Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross and Eva Longoria Parker. As the neurotic husband of deceased Mary Alice Young (played by Brenda Strong) and the father of Zach (played by Kody Kasch), he jointly netted two Screen Actors Guild awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2005 and 2006). His last performance on the show was on January 21, 2007, in the episode “Come Play Wiz Me.”

After his departure from “Desperate Housewives,” Moses appeared on an episode of “Without a Trace” called “Without You” and in the reoccurring role of Herman Phillips in episodes of “Mad Men” (2007-2009). He also received one episode roles in such popular series as “Human Target” (2010) and “CSI: Miami: (2010) and will costar in Rob Shiller’s upcoming comedy “And They’re Off” (2011).

Awards:

• Screen Actors Guild: Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series, “Desperate Housewives,” 2006

• Screen Actors Guild: Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series, “Desperate Housewives,” 2005