Mark Jackson

Mark Jackson
Biographical information
Birth name	Mark Jackson
Plays	Isaac
Born	August 23, 1982
Nationality	English
Gender	Male
Eye color	Brown
Hair color	Brown
Height	5' 10"
Career
Years active	2000–present

I'm a big fan of sci-fi anyway. So, I'm probably blinded to any possibilities of [The Orville] not doing well. Because this is exactly the kind of show that I'd watch, even if I wasn't in it.— Mark Jackson

Mark Jackson is an English writer and actor who plays the Kaylon Science Officer Isaac in The Orville.

Background

Mark Jackson is an English actor who has performed in British Television such as That Peter Kay Thing and The Royal Today. He has also performed in short projects Peppermint as well as the The Kissing Booth.

He describes himself as a "huge fan" of science fiction growing up, having read it since he was a child, and always wanted to perform in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

After Season 2, Jackson worked on a film about the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder on the military.

The Orville

I must admit I worked my arse off for the audition.— Mark Jackson

Jackson received word of a television audition for a "robot" from his agent knowing only that the show was a Seth MacFarlane science-fiction project. Unlike other roles on The Orville that were filled in America, Fox held auditions for Isaac in America, Canada, England, and Australia.

Actors auditioned on the Bridge of the USS Orville, speaking in "sciencey jargon" and stating statistics of planets. Creator Seth MacFarlane observed the auditions blind: closing his eyes and turning around, paying attention to the quality and timber of each actor's voice.

Jackson was cast in The Orville on December 8, 2016 after a "fairly straightforward audition process" in the casting director's apartment in the Streatham district of London, England where he read Isaac's lines on camera. Isaac was described simply as a "featureless face" with red eyes. MacFarlane greatly enjoyed Jackson's taped performance, and Fox twice tried to bring him to Los Angeles, California for screen tests, but both attempts fell through for unknown reasons.

Regardless, Jackson was hired anyway six weeks later on the basis of the single audition tape, receiving the good news while stepping onto a plane for a vacation in Barcelona, Spain. "I got offered the part after six weeks of suspense," he recalled in an interview, and quipped, "There was much sangria that night."

He moved to Los Angeles on January 1, 2017, shortly after receiving the part, and co-star Scott Grimes helped him move into his new apartment.

I was leaving behind my fiancee, I was leaving behind all my friends and family – so it was a mixed bag. But I was going to Hollywood, so that’s obviously a great thing, to work on a crazy new show which I guess you will all have seen now which is great. It was a strange experience but a great one in the end.

Joining The Orville and "becoming" Isaac

Howard Berger and crew fit Jackson into his suit.

Jackson began preparing for his new role as Isaac and MacFarlane began talking to him over the phone, preparing the English actor for the role, practicing the iconic Isaac voice, and bonding over Star Trek and science fiction authors like Isaac Asimov and Iain M. Banks.

When I first met Seth actually, he said "So Mark, what’s your background, then? Work-wise?" And at first, I was shocked he didn’t know – I’d just presumed he’d looked at my CV. But I don’t think Americans do in the same way that Brits do.

I said "Well, you know, I’ve done a lot of theater," and he said "Oh good! I’d hoped so."

The pair made sure that Isaac's movement was deliberate and minimal, that each movement had an exact purpose. Howard Berger met with him to explain how an intricate Kaylon costume would work, especially how to move the limbs.

Jackson was especially awestruck by the impressive set of the USS Orville: "The first moment I walked onto the bridge of the Orville, it was truly magical. That was the case for all of us I think, but for me, I felt like a 10 year old on Christmas morning. It was just so real."

As a United Kingdom citizen, the producers had to write lengthy, extensive petitions to the State Department for Jackson's entry into the United States. Jackson later recollected the first time he met the director of the pilot episode, Jon Favreau, who said, "You're Mark? You would not believe the letter I had to write for you, so don't be shit." When filming of Old Wounds concluded, Favreau approached Jackson anew to tell him, "You weren't shit."

With the cast and producers at the Fox Los Angeles Screenings Party in 2017.

Season 1

During the first table read of the show Jackson felt overwhelmed once he realized that he was one of the only actors not to know MacFarlane personally.

At the start of filming, MacFarlane sent the scripts of the first few episodes to Jackson to review. He found the semi-tragic endings to some episodes to be emotionally tolling. "I remember texting Seth after reading one particular episode to tell him so," he later recalled. "I think I was crying in a cafe. It was somewhat embarrassing."

The Isaac suit was infamously constrictive around Jackson's body, and it was worst in the early days of Old Wounds. The helmet was especially bad. "I was blind, I couldn't breathe - like literally," he told an audience at the 2021 Sci-Fi Summit. The production team adjusted his helmet after Old Wounds and before starting If the Stars Should Appear (the second episode filmed).

He calls the experience of playing Isaac "immensely liberating" because he can set his ego aside while portraying a character behind a mask." He later commented:

What I like about the show is that ... an episode will start with the crew embarking on a fairly boring and routine mission. They’ll be dropping off some cargo, etc. Of course, it tends to get interesting after that, but what it points out is that once we’ve populated the galaxy, ... most space travel will be perfunctory. Much like everyday journeys around a city, a large proportion of journeys around habitable space will be as practical as going to the dentist, visiting the in-laws or dropping off a cheque at the bank.

After the success of Season 1, Jackson reflected on the state of his character: "It’s wonderful to see how Isaac’s been received from the first season. I thought he would go down well because he’s so weird. People love weird, and I’m no exception."

Season 2

Sun - Main Stage - NYCC 2019 - SYFY WIRE

Mark Jackson demonstrates teaching other actors how to behave as Kaylon.

As the cast reunited for the second season, Jackson was pleased to see the eight main cast members interact swimmingly with each other again. He later said that in between Season 1 and Season 2, he had an epiphany when he plays Isaac he is not so much an actor as he is a puppeteer. "Actors have an ego, ... it is absolutely essential to get on stage and give a performance you believe in," he explained. "When you put a visor in front of an actor's eyes or take away their face, I felt limited. I felt constrained. I realized I'm a puppeteer when I'm in a suit. It's all about physicality, it's all about expression through another object which is the suit." He began to refer to himself as a puppeteer in interviews from then on.

Several days before the premiere of Season 2, Jackson sat down for a final interview.

Isaac’s become more fluid this season. And that’s down to my growing confidence as a puppeteer, but also Isaac’s character developing into something more than just an AI. Season one felt like I was getting a conversation going with the costume, season two feels more like a double act.

After filming, Jackson returned to London to await the status of Season 3.

Playing human Isaac

Beginning in Season 2 and continuing through Season 3, Isaac was frequently performed by Mark Jackson without a suit - the in-story explanation being that Isaac used the Environmental Simulator to simulate a Human body. Jackson found the experience to be simple because he did not need to change his behavior, he simply acted as Isaac without a Kaylon suit.

Trivia

The main cast attends the Television Critics Association party in 2017.

• His favorite episodes are A Happy Refrain and Primal Urges.
• His favorite character is Lieutenant Dann and his favorite prop is Bortus' egg.
• Until the premiere of Season 2's A Happy Refrain, Jackson was the only member of the main cast to not have his likeness portrayed in the series. In all previous episodes, he wore a full body Kaylon suit.
• When asked how he 'gets in character' as Isaac, Jackson replied: "Learn the lines, get in the suit, and try to remember how I did it last time."
• Jackson got engaged and married between the first and second seasons of The Orville.
• He used KY Jelly on his hands to slip into Isaac's hands. He hid an extra bottle of KY Jelly behind his chair at his station on the Bridge, out of view from the cameras.
• He frequently yawns in his suit, knowing no one call tell.

Interviews

• August 2017: Screen Rant
• September 2017: Hidden Remote, AfterBuzz TV , ComicBook.com, Medium, That's Entertainment
• October 2017: The Orville Podcast, Flickering Myth
• November 2017: Planetary Union Network
• December 2017: Telly Binge, We Have a Hulk
• December 2018: Cultured Vultures, Meaww, The ManCave Chronicles, Screenfish Radio, StarryMag, Inquisitr, The Hedonist
• January 2019: MYMBuzz, We Have a Hulk
• February 2019: AMA on Reddit
• July 2022: Reel School

See also

• The World of the Orville, page 50