McGann's first breakthrough role was as the eponymous hero in the company's production of Lennon in 1981 which received good reviews and ran for 10 months at the London Astoria Theatre, winning McGann the first of his two Olivier Award nominations for best actor in a West End theatre production. He was later to reprise the role for the film for NBCtelevision in the United States in 1985. His first television appearances were in 1982 in Recording Studio opposite Peter Howitt and Robert Stephens for Granada TV, and Moving On The Edge, a BBC Play for Today TV Drama starring Eleanor Bron. He then appeared as "Mad Dog" in the C4 TV series Scully by Alan Bleasdale in 1983 with Cathy Tyson and Elvis Costello, the first of three separate collaborations with Bleasdale which included the films No Surrender in 1985 and Pleasure for Channel 4 in 1990. McGann's career in TV has seen him play 'Marcus Bannerman' in the World War I era drama series by Russell T. Davies The Grand in 1999 for Granada TV; Joseph Bazalgette, the Victorian industrial engineer in the award winning factual drama/doc Seven Great Industrial Wonders of the World in 2002 for the BBC; and Tom Crean the Irish companion of Ernest Shackleton in Shackleton opposite Kenneth Branagh; and "Niven Craig" in Peter Medak's Let Him Have It with Christopher Eccleston and Tom Courtenay. He appeared as "Conor Phelan" in the multi-BAFTA nominated The Hanging Gale, a BBC drama set against the backdrop of the Irish Potato Famine of 1846 which also starred Mark's three actor brothers. Mark McGann has appeared in theatre productions as Mickey in Blood Brothers by Willy Russell in 1984, An Inspector Calls by J. B. Priestley for a National Theatre Tour in which he played "Inspector Goole", and also at the National Theatre in On the Ledge.
Writing and directing
Original works for stage and screen include:
"Perplexed Music" - Short film written and directed by McGann and winner of the LA Shorts Platinum Award for Best Short Film, Newcastle International Film Festival Award for Best Short Film, Beverley Hills Film Festival Best Short, Red Corner Film Festival Best Short
"The Legend of Spottee's Cave" - a film project commissioned by Sunderland City Council and produced and directed by McGann in 2011 which received a UK Arts and Culture Award nomination for best educational film
"The Could Lad of Hylton Castle" directed by McGann and written by Colin Swash.
Recent
Since 2007, McGann has been the director of Drama Direct Ltd, a creative production company producing original productions and projects for the entertainment and education industries. In 2017, McGann launched a successful Kickstarter campaign to fund his short film Perplexed Music, based on the Elizabeth Barrett Browning petrarchan sonnet of the same name. The film is written and directed by McGann and stars his brother Paul and nephew Jake "Sonny" McGann in leading roles. The film was released in 2018.
Family
McGann's three brothers are all actors. He lives with his wife, Caroline Guinness-McGann, in Frome, Somerset.
