Mark DaCascos
We know him as the chairman’s nephew on “Iron Chef America,” but Mark DaCascos is also an accomplished martial artist. Can that help him and partner Lacey Schwimmer dance away with the victory on this season’s “Dancing with the Stars?”
Mark was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on February 26, 1964. He is of Filipino, Irish, Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese ancestry. His father Al DaCascos is a renowned Wun Hop Quen Do martial arts instructor and his step-mother is Malia Bernal, an award winning martial artist. Mark’s parents began training him in Wun Hop Quen Do when he was just four years old. He has trained in many other styles including capoeira, wu-shu, muay thai, and Northern Shaolin kung fu. While a very talented (he has won 20 championships) martial artist, Mark feels that he will always be a student as there is always more to learn.
Mark was noticed by two men working for director Wayne Wang when he was walking down a street in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Mark’s scenes in Wang’s 1985 movie Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart was cut, that lead to more acting roles. In 1986, he appeared in four episodes of “General Hospital” as a police cadet. He followed that up in the early ‘90s with appearances on “Doogie Howser, M.D.,” “The Flash,” and “Dragnet.”
Mark garnered attention for his role in 1993’s Only the Strong, in which he played a martial artist who turned high schooler’s lives around by teaching them the art. In the ‘90s, he was featured in such films as The Island of Dr. Moreau, Double Dragon, Kickboxer 5, and No Code of Conduct. In 1998-99, Mark starred in 22 episodes of “The Crow: Stairway to Heaven” as character Eric Draven.
Since then, Mark has appeared on “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” “The Legacy of Bruce Lee,” and “Stargate: Atlantis” and in the films Cradle 2 the Grave, Brotherhood of the Wolf (for which he was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor) and The Hunt for Eagle One. He has also done voice and live acting in the video games Stranglehold and Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom. He was digitally recreated for the Wii game “Iron Chef America.”
In 2005, Mark landed the gig he may be best known for – as the nephew of the Chairman Takeshi Kaga of “Iron Chef” on “Iron Chef America.” He has since starred in over 140 episodes of the hit show. He is currently working on a documentary for The History Channel titled “Samurai,” about Miyamoto, who wrote “The Book of Five Rings.”
Mark is married to actress Julie Condra and the couple has three children.
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