Award-Winning Producer, Writer, Actor, and Mental Health Advocate
Mark Duplass: Biography at a Glance
- Mark Duplass is a true multi-hyphenate — an Emmy-winning producer, director, Emmy-nominated actor, screenwriter, author, and mental health advocate.
- He stars alongside Jennifer Aniston, Steve Carell, and Reese Witherspoon in the Apple TV+ series The Morning Show, a gripping comedy-drama that explores power, pressure, and truth in media.
- A standout comedic voice, Mark starred for six seasons on FX’s The League and became a fan-favorite on The Mindy Project, while also appearing in acclaimed dramas like Zero Dark Thirty and Parkland.
- He co-wrote the memoir Like Brothers, a candid and humorous reflection on creativity and his lifelong partnership with his brother, Jay Duplass.
- He is known for leading the Mumblecore film movement: a stripped-down method of filmmaking with a naturalistic and unapologetically earnest style of storytelling that emphasizes improvisation, authenticity, and human connection.
- Duplass speaks openly about his decades-long journey with anxiety and depression, using his platform to break stigmas and spark honest conversations especially around men’s mental health.
- His keynotes blend creativity, vulnerability, and humor as he shares insights on navigating the entertainment industry, embracing failure, building resilience, and telling the stories that matter most.
Videos
Biography
As an actor, Mark Duplass has appeared in a wide range of film and television projects, including the Apple+ series The Morning Show, for which he received 2 Emmy nominations and a 2022 Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Mark was also one of the stars of the acclaimed HBO show Togetherness, a series he co-created with his brother Jay, and Hulu’s Good American Family. Mark’s many on-screen feature film credits include: The Puffy Chair, which he also co-wrote and co-directed, the indie-sensation Humpday, the Gotham award-winning Your Sister's Sister, the Oscar-winning Zero Dark Thirty, the contemporary classic sci-fi films The One I Love and Safety Not Guaranteed, Bombshell opposite Charlize Theron, Paddleton with Ray Romano, the Creep horror franchise, and Biosphere opposite Sterling K. Brown.
Under their banner, Duplass Brothers Productions (DBP), Mark Duplass, Jay Duplass, and Mel Eslyn create original projects for film, television, and digital media. DBP is under a first-look deal with HBO, which has yielded the hit series Room 104, Togetherness, Somebody Somewhere, and the HBO animated series Animals. Some of their recent film productions include the award-winning romantic comedy 7 Days, Natalie Morales' directorial debut Language Lessons (in which Mark also starred), and Sean Baker’s landmark film Tangerine. DBP is also active in the documentary feature and docuseries space, best known for producing Netflix’s Wild Wild Country, winner of the Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series. Other credits include their self-financed show Penelope, HBO's Independent Spirit-nominated The Lady and the Dale, Hulu's Sasquatch, plus the features Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off, Jason Isbell: Running with Our Eyes Closed, and Not Going Quietly about activist Ady Barkan.
Topics
Behind the Scenes: A Story of Mental Health, Resilience, and Courage
Best known for his acclaimed work on The Morning Show, Mark Duplass has made a career out of telling emotionally honest stories onscreen. Now, he’s telling one of the most important stories of all: his own. In this candid and inspiring talk, Duplass opens up about his journey with anxiety and depression, going from battling panic attacks in silence to building a mental health toolkit that now sustains both his well-being and his creative career.
Drawing from personal experience, Mark explores how therapy, daily habits, and human connection helped him regain control and redefine what it means to thrive. He also reflects on how vulnerability in the workplace can foster trust, deepen relationships, and actually enhance professional success.
With warmth, humor, and hard-won insight, Duplass challenges outdated stigmas around mental health and empowers audiences to prioritize their emotional resilience to better their personal and professional lives.
Creating Space for Innovation, Improvisation, and Breakthrough Ideas
In this energizing talk, award-winning filmmaker and entrepreneur Mark Duplass shares lessons from his groundbreaking work leading the Mumblecore film movement, an indie revolution built not on big budgets, but on big ideas. Known for telling authentic stories with minimal resources, Duplass reveals how creativity thrives when people are trusted to experiment, improvise, and think beyond the obvious.
Drawing from his experience co-creating hit films and series with limited tools but limitless imagination, Duplass illustrates how innovation happens not through rigid structure or massive investment, but through empowering teams to take risks, embrace imperfection, and follow instinct over process. He shares practical insights on how leaders can foster environments that support bold thinking, where fresh ideas are welcomed, and failure is seen as fuel rather than a flaw.
Whether you’re building a startup, leading a team, or trying to spark creativity inside a large organization, this talk offers a compelling roadmap for unlocking innovation from the inside out.
