Mark van Beelen was born on the 4th of June 1982 in Steenwijk, the Netherlands. His passion for theatre developed quite early. He was often taken to the theatre, either by his family or by his primary school. Mark decided he wanted to be an actor when he grew up, but after his mother had taken him to see the musical Cats his vision changed, and he decided to broaden his horizons. He wanted to act, sing and dance plus everything that was expected from an all-round performer. So he started off by attending different amateur schools and performing in numerous amateur plays and musicals.