Mark Janicello is a multiple Award-Winning, American Renaissance Man. There are very few corners of the entertainment universe that he[…]
Mark Janicello is a multiple Award-Winning, American Renaissance Man. There are very few corners of the entertainment universe that he has not worked in. The trilingual singer/actor (English/German/Dutch) had a stage career spanning more than 30 years, including over 100 productions. Mark is a classically-trained operatic tenor, who sang over 40 leading roles in operas and operettas, while also studying acting for 10 years with a member of NY's famed Actor's Studio. Mark has been vegan since 2004 and advocates for a plant-based lifestyle. He made his first stage appearance as a boy soprano at four years old and has been on stage or in front of a camera ever since. In the intervening years, he has performed in 52 countries.
Among his many talents, he has been blessed with a truly unique, extremely versatile singing voice. He’s had the honor to share the stage, microphone, or screen with such Show Business Legends as Frank Sinatra, Liza Minelli, Bill Cosby, Chick Corea, Jody Watley, Jon Secada, Rock ‘n’ Roll Pioneer Bo Diddley, Reggae Stars Black Uhuru; operatic Superstars such as Cecilia Bartoli, Edita Gruberova, Francisco Araiza, Anna Moffo and Alfredo Kraus; Tony-Award winners like Liz Callaway, Debbie Gravitte, Kiril Kulish and Judy Kaye; as well as Hollywood luminaries like Anne Bancroft, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Alec Baldwin, among others.
In 1992, he conquered both the New York Subways and the tough New York audiences as a street singer beating out over 3,000 contestants to win the KFC Musical Feast where he was crowned “America’s Best Street Performer.” His prize-winning appearance in Grand Central Station featured multiple musical and vocal styles and was based on the idea: “What if Elvis never died but just turned into Pavarotti?” It put Mark on the map of the entertainment industry and at the same time established him as a completely unique artist who doesn’t neatly fit into any “box.”
He then made the leap from street performer to established theaters and concert halls performing in Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and the Zurich Opera House, among many, many others. Playing Elvis Presley in the 1997 production of “Elvis: A Musical Biography” made his name in Europe. During a 30+ year stage career, he’s performed leading and supporting roles in over 100 stage productions. Additionally, he has recorded 39 CDs, and done numerous international concert tours.
In 2012, after starring in the musical spectacular “Loving the Silent Tears” in Hollywood’s famed Shrine Auditorium, Mark decided to step away from the stage for a while and to concentrate his energies on filmed entertainments. In the last few years, he has worked on over 90 national- and international film-, TV-, corporate video-, and commercial productions.
He is a Puccini Foundation Grant Awardee for his operatic singing. Mark was the first recipient of the Fleischer Music Prize from the City of Leipzig, Germany for his contributions to music and culture and in 2022, was named the World's Best Gospel Elvis at the largest Elvis Festival in the world in Porthcawl, Wales.
He has written and produced successful stage- and touring productions throughout Europe, including seven world-premiere musicals: Elvis: The Musical; The Chameleon Concert; Be My Love: The Mario Lanza Musical; Charlie: A New Musical; the animated children's musical Cloud 9; The Great Caruso, and 2023's The Finellis Musical – which will come to London's West End in 2024.
He was recently commissioned to write and direct a new play, Take The Bins Out, which celebrated its world-premiere at the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe and for which Mark was nominated for a 2023 Popcorn/BBC Writer's Room Award for “Best New Play.”
His production company, Marjan Content Productions was incorporated in Berlin in 2018 and now has offices in Berlin, London and the USA. In January 2022, Marjan's first production, The Finellis Movie with Mark as screenwriter, lyricist, and leading actor was released in a TVOD Window worldwide. The film enjoys a 7.4/10 Rating on IMDb, and 5-star ratings on Amazon and Apple TV in Germany, the UK and the USA. The irreverent family comedy which includes cutting-edge storylines, live musical performances as well as animated sequences, has accumulated 22 Awards and 64 Nominations from 12 different countries at International Film- and Television Festivals during the 2020-2021 Festival Season.
