Arts & Culture

Big Break

Towson native stages TV takeover this month.

See that guy sitting in the chair above? Remember that face, because you’re going to be seeing a lot of it on your TV this month—and likely in the future, as well.

Towson-raised actor Peter Mark Kendall is “blowing up,” as the kids say, with appearances on three highly anticipated series set to debut or return this month.

First, he’ll appear in three episodes of HBO’s much-lauded dramedy Girls, which returns for its fourth season on January 11. Then, the next night, MTV’s new cyber-crime police drama Eye Candy, on which Kendall has a recurring role, will debut. Finally, on January 28, the acclaimed spy drama The Americans resumes on FX with Kendall in yet another recurring (and top-secret) role.

And let’s not even get started on his upcoming appearances in movies with the likes of Jesse Eisenberg, Isabelle Huppert, and Richard Gere. Not bad for a kid from Rodgers Forge.

A talented musician who plays several instruments, Kendall entered McDaniel College thinking he’d be a music major but found he disliked the almost monastic lifestyle music study required. Having acted at Towson High, he got involved in McDaniel’s theater program and quickly switched majors.

“I started resenting music and having to practice for four hours in a room by myself, but I never really felt that way about acting. I couldn’t really think of anything that I’d rather do more,” says Kendall, 28.

After college, he moved to Hampden and began auditioning, supporting himself by waiting tables and walking dogs. Appearances at Baltimore Shakespeare Festival and Center Stage earned him his equity card and then, after auditioning three years in a row, he was accepted into the prestigious Brown University and Trinity Repertory Company MFA acting program.

“That was a big thing for me creatively and professionally,” he acknowledges. Now living the actor’s life in New York, he still returns to visit his parents, who have since relocated to Pikesville. “I love Baltimore so much. I’d like to come back more,” he says.

Somehow, we doubt he’ll have time.