Mark Hembrow

Hembrow's parents were Vernon Charles Hembrow, a senior English Literature Lecturer at the Kelvin Grove Teachers Training College, and Sally Hembrow, a daytime television personality and presenter and cooking specialist. Sally produced her own television show for QTQ9 on the Nine Network, 'Living Graciously', which aired from 1963 to 1973. She was a forerunner for women in television, food, fashion and interior decor in Australia. Sally also had a radio show on 4KQ named 'Hotline to the Oven'.

Hembrow's education was at Ashgrove State School and then St Peters Lutheran College, Indooroopilly. He has one brother, John.

Hembrow was married to Nathalie Stanley, whom he met while in Trinidad and Tobago filming The Last Island (1990).^[1] They have three daughters together, Amy (born June 1990), Emilee (born January 1992) and Tammy (born April 1994), who are well-known social media personalities and entrepreneurs. It is unknown when Hembrow and Stanley divorced.

Mark first stepped on stage at age 16 at La Boîte Theatre Company as Barnaby Tucker in The Matchmaker and then Sandy in Hay Fever and Apollo in Fetch Me a Fig Leaf: The Musical, all directed by Graham Johnson. He then performed the lead in Once Upon a Mattress at the Brisbane Arts Theatre, which was to be his last amateur production at aged 17.

At 18 years of age, Mark first started working professionally for the main company at Queensland Theatre Company where he worked in productions over two years while doing in-service training. Productions included Springle a secondary school theatre and education production, written by Bille Brown to celebrate 100 years of education. He also performed in Equus, School for Scoundrels, Savages, Jumpers, The Department, Hamlet and Fourth of July before heading to Sydney.

His first professional jobs in Sydney were with the Old Tote Theatre Company (now Sydney Theatre Company) in a production of The Night of the Iguana, and on television series The Young Doctors as Georgie Saint. He then worked on two musicals, The Rocky Horror Show and Paradise Regained, followed by his first feature, Goodbye Paradise directed by Karl Schultz. Mark featured in many television shows and films over the years.

Mark returned home from the USA, and decided to have a break from acting for a number of years, in order to raise his family. During this time, he wrote two feature film scripts and was composing music.

Recent guest roles on Australian television include The Straits directed by Rachel Ward and Old School starring Bryan Brown and Sam Neill by Matchbox Productions.