Mark Jean’s early passion for filmmaking led him to San Diego State University where he earned a B.S. in Telecommunications & Film. He then attended The American Film Institute on full scholarship earning a Masters Degree in Directing. A versatile director, Jean has helmed independent features, MOW’s, television pilots, and episodic dramas and comedies. He has directed a wide variety of genres, from the psychological thriller TAKEN BACK, with Moira Kelly and Amanda Tapping, to the Christmas comedy FINDING MRS. CLAUS, starring Mira Sorvino and Will Sasso, to the true-life dramas FINDING A FAMILY, starring Kim Delaney, and DUKE, starring Steven Weber.Accolades for Jean’s directing include: the GEORGE FOSTER PEABODY AWARD for a series of interstitials for Fox Children’s Network; The Houston International Film Festival’s GOLD AWARD for HOMECOMING, starring Anne Bancroft and Bonnie Bedilia; numerous film festival awards including 1ST PLACE New York Film Festival, The Houston International Film Festival’s GOLD AWARD, and Chicago International Film Festival’s GOLD AWARD for his Disney short WHO OWNS THE SUN; and BEST FEATURE FILM at the Sprockets Toronto Film Festival for the family comedy FINN ON THE FLY.He has also written and co-written numerous screenplays, including the historical drama BEAST OF BATAAN for producers Mel Brooks and Jonathan Sanger, HOMECOMING, which garnered a WGA nomination for BEST LONGFORM ADAPTATION, and the adaptation of the young-adult novel GEMINI SUMMER. A novelist himself, Jean’s fantasy-adventure PUDDLEJUMPERS, published by Hyperion Books, won Voya’s TOP SHELF FICTION AWARD. Jean’s most recent films, SHUFFLETON’S BARBERSHOP, a father-son reconciliation story starring Danny Glover, and THE CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT, a romance with Kellie Martin and Cameron Mathison, both aired on the Hallmark Channel in 2013. Jean has begun work on his second novel, another young adult fantasy-adventure.