Following his marathon of a run playing James Morse in the original West End cast of Pretty Woman - The Musical, we spoke to actor Mark Holden about his experience on the show and other projects, including working with Samuel L. Jackson.

You’re such a busy man Mark, we’re not sure where to begin! Let’s start with Pretty Woman. You played the role of James Morse for the entire West End run, originating the role in the UK. What was that experience like?

In September 2019, I was really happy to land the originating role of James Morse in Pretty Woman The Musical, and looked forward to getting into rehearsals in early January 2020. We moved into the Piccadilly Theatre in early February for tech week, and opened for two weeks of previews before press night on 2 March. Two weeks later, the curtain came down for a year and a quarter due to the COVID pandemic. We were kept in contract, but really didn't know what was going to happen. I kept myself busy during lockdown with various things, and we eventually got the good news that we were going to reopen the show at the Savoy Theatre on 8 July. So, we went back into rehearsals in mid-June. James Morse was a role with gravitas for me, and a foxtrot dance with the Pretty Woman herself, Aimie Atkinson. I had two pivotal scenes in the show, and was mentioned by name several times. I did plenty of reading, admin and box set watching in my dressing room. 🙂. I had a wonderful time in Pretty Woman and met some great people.

You appeared as Bill Devaney in The Bodyguard. How did audiences and their behaviour differ from the West End to Canada?

I guess the main difference between the West End and Toronto audiences is that fact that there is a larger diversity of people in the West End, due to Europe being so close and the wider international tourism which London attracts. Otherwise, the audiences equally gave our cast a very warm appreciation in both places.

Is it correct that during lockdown you took an online course studying Shakespeare’s Othello and then went on to perform as five different Shakespeare characters in The Show Must Go Online? What made you decide to do this?

Yes, I decided at the beginning of lockdown that I wanted to come out of the other end with something to show for it, something to show myself! So I registered with Harward X online to study the Othello Story and after about 6 months, I attained a certificate of achievement, which I was very proud of, especially since it's been many years since I have studied like that. I love Shakespeare, and have performed it many times in the past back in Canada. So, looked for something else to do and I found out about The Show Must Go Online company online, who were doing rehearsed online readings of all of Shakespeare's plays. I played Mark Antony in ANTONY & CLEOPATRA, Aaron in TITUS ANDRONICUS, Old Gobbo/Tubal in THE MERCHANT OF VENICE and Diomedes in TROILUS & CRESSIDA. It was really good and enjoyable to keep my acting chops active throughout lockdown with these online performances.

You recently spent a few days filming in Edinburgh with Samuel L Jackson. Are you able to tell us anything about that project?

What a great experience I had working with Hollywood legend Samuel L Jackson on the feature film, DAMAGED. It was filmed in the beautiful city of Edinburgh. I played the role of Captain Ford who was the boss of Dan Lawson, a detective (Samuel's character), in the Chicago PD homicide unit. Dan Lawson travels to Scotland to hook up with Scottish detective Glen Boyd, following the resurgence of a serial killer whose crime match an unsolved case that he looked into five years ago in Chicago. It was wonderful to perform opposite Samuel in a two-hander scene, being able to watch his process and work with him. We had great conversation whilst on set. Definitely a memorable film shoot.

Before your acting career began, you were an international athlete for Great Britain and Canada. Was acting something you had always wanted to try?

I became interested in acting at around 12 years old, when I joined an amateur musical theatre company in Plymouth. Prior to that, my late mother used to take me to the cinema, live theatre shows, and pantomimes. I was also a member of the City of Plymouth athletics club, doing sprints and jumps, which took over most of my time, but I did the odd musical revue here and there, throughout my teens and young adult life when I was a police officer in London and Edmonton, Canada, until I retired from international bobsledding when I was 29, which is when I delved back into acting at a deeper level and have never looked back.

Is there anything career wise that you would like to do that you haven’t already done?

I still have further aspirations as an actor, including landing a regular role in a successful TV series, playing more supporting leads and leads in feature films. I would also like to play Othello again at my current age, since the last time I stood in his shoes was way back in 1997 in Vancouver, Canada. I'm also an award winning international short film maker (The Double Deal short film which can be viewed on YouTube) and am in the process of producing my first feature film about artificial intelligence called ANTHIA about a teenage adapted humanoid girl. Just need to find investors to fund the project. 🙂

You can follow Mark on Instagram @realmarkholden