Mark Hildreth plays Gordon Wright, a top FBI Counter Terrorism Expert, alongside Jeff Daniels in Hulu’s upcoming drama The Looming Tower, premiering February 28th.
Tracing the rising threat of Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, The Looming Tower takes a controversial look at how the rivalry between the CIA and FBI inadvertently might have set the stage for the tragedy of 9/11 and the war in Iraq.
Mark has an impressive resume, including recurring roles on Showtime’s The Tudors and ABC’s sci-drama V and Resurrection. He’s also had a slew of guest star appearances, namely on The CW’s Supernatural, CBC’s Being Erica, and SYFY’s Eureka. Mark has also appeared in the feature films Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End and American Pastoral.
Hi, Mark! You have an impressive resume, and we can’t wait to speak with you about The Looming Tower! You play Gordon Wright, a top FBI Counter Terrorism Expert. This show is a hard look at the events of 9/11 and the Iraq war.
Hi Occhi! Thanks for taking the time. The Looming Tower is a new event series from Hulu starring Jeff Daniels, Peter Saarsgard, and Alex Baldwin. It follows the CIA and the FBI during the lead up to the 9/11 attacks. I play Gordon Wright, a former top gun pilot who is a member of Jeff Daniels’ FBI team, along with an incredible cast that also includes Tahar Rahim, Bill Camp, Michael Stuhlbarg and Wrenn Schmidt. It was an incredible experience recreating with exacting detail what it was like for these people to try to deal with an almost impossible situation.
Do you feel that this show delivers a unique plot?
The Looming Tower explores the human side of one of the most horrible tragedies in history – the 9/11 attacks. There has never been a show like this – one that doesn’t pull punches about what mistakes were made and how we dealt with the situation. We follow the difficult relationship between the FBI and the CIA from 1998 onward leading up to the events of 9/11.
What should the audience expect?
The Looming Tower combines an edge of your seat drama that takes place in New York, Afghanistan, Yemen and other locales with real documentary footage of Osama Bin Laden, American journalists and other historical footage to represent what it was like at that time. Lawrence Wright (the Pulitzer Prize-winning of the New York Times best-selling book upon which the series is based) wrote it in part to show the current generation, who were not around for 9/11, what it was like and how we got to where we are today. Hopefully, people will watch The Looming Tower and consider what it might have been like during those terrible days, how we dealt with the situation and whether we did the right thing.
True event shows can evoke all kinds of emotions. How do you unwind after starring in a series like this, where tragedy is the focus?
I’m a musician so there’s nothing I like more than spending time in my studio and working on my next album, which I hope to release sometime in the next year or so. I have released two original albums as solo singer/songwriter, Complex State Of Attachment and Signs Of Life. Both are available on iTunes.
You had a slew of guest star appearances in high-profile films and television series. Is there a particular role you would love to play in your career?
I’ve been lucky to work on some great TV shows over the years, including ABC’s Resurrection and the alien drama V, Showtime’s The Tudors and many others. I also have a movie called Nellie Bly coming out this year, starring Christina Ricci. But the role I most want to play that I haven’t is Hamlet. I was classically trained as an actor and Hamlet is, to my mind, the greatest English play.
You continuously hone your craft. What keeps you inspired?
Acting is not an easy career path. But there’s nothing I love more than connecting with people and sharing important ideas. If you go back to the Greeks, you see they used theater as a forum to explore ideas of how best to live together in a society. That’s a noble pursuit that keeps me going and gives me a chance to make a positive difference in the world. It’s what gets me up in the morning!
Thus far, what has been the best experience working in the industry?
I’ve had a wonderful career, so far. I’ve been lucky to work on over 100 movies and TV shows with some of the best in the business including Ewan McGregor, Jennifer Connolly, Henry Cavill, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Ryan Reynolds, Jeff Daniels, Elizabeth Mitchell, and Steven Spielberg. I had a wonderful time a couple of years ago working on the ABC’s series Resurrection with Omar Epps and Frances Fisher. But a career highlight has always been working with Katharine Hepburn as a child. My parents were really impressed!
Do you have any upcoming projects that we haven’t mentioned?
Nellie Bly is a movie I just finished based on the true story of a female reporter in 1890’s New York City who goes undercover to expose the abuses at an asylum for women on Blackwell Island and writes one of the first exposes of it’s kind in American journalism. It stars Christina Ricci, Josh Bowman, Judith Light and myself. It’s a wonderful topic that is very timely. It will premiere later this year.
Complete this sentence, if I had an opportunity to do anything I want, I would do ___________.
If I had the opportunity to do anything I want, I would…do what I love the most! I love my job and I love working on great projects. I found acting when I was 5-years old and was encouraged (but not pushed) by my parents to pursue it “as long as it made me happy.” I am one of the lucky few who had wonderful parents and who gets to do something they love.
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Connect with Mark:
Instagram: https://instagram.com/markhildreth
Twitter: https://twitter.com/hildrethmark
Facebook: https://facebook.com/markhildreth
Featured Image Credit: Style Militia.
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