Mark Linn-Baker: Biography

The son of a frustrated actor-turned-ad man, Mark Linn-Baker grew up in the rarefied atmosphere of nonprofessional community theatre. Entering Yale as a math major, Linn-Baker switched to psychology in mid-stream, ultimately collecting his MFA in drama. He worked with the New York Shakespeare Festival before making his film debut in Woody Allen's Manhattan (1979) -- but don't strain yourself looking for him, since 95% of his role was cut. He fared better as the lead in director Richard Benjamin's My Favorite Year (1982), a 1950s period piece in which Linn-Baker played a Mel Brooksish TV writer assigned to "protect" an Errol Flynnlike screen idol (Peter O'Toole). Two years later, Linn-Baker was one of the regulars of a New York-based improvisational TV series, Comedy Zone. The actor's best known role, and one which he essayed for nearly five years, was as the long-suffering Larry Appleton, American cousin of funky Mypopian immigrant Belki (Bronson Pinchot), on the TV sitcom Perfect Strangers. Mark-Linn Baker has continued in this farcical vein in such films as Bare Essentials (1990) and Noises Off (1992). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide