Mark Borchardt

Mark Borchardt (born August 20, 1966) is an American independent filmmaker. He is best known as the subject of the 1999 film American Movie, which documented three years he spent writing, shooting and editing his horror short, Coven (1997). Early life Borchardt was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His mother, Monica, is Swedish. He started making films at the age of fourteen with a super-8 camera that was given to him by a neighbor. After serving three years in the military, he continued his cinematic endeavors at the local university. In the mid-nineties, he wrote and produced Halloween radio dramas which were broadcast annually and won a fellowship from the Milwaukee Art Futures Board. Career Filmmakers Chris Smith and Sarah Price began filming Borchardt while he was attempting to put together funding for his unfinished feature Northwestern. After the project collapsed, Borchardt decided instead to finish Coven, which he had started years earlier. After Coven was completed, Smith and Price compiled their footage into American Movie, which was picked up by Sony Classics and won the Grand Jury Prize at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. Since then Borchardt has been active appearing on television and in movies. Borchardt has made five appearances on Late Show with David Letterman, including serving as Letterman's 2000 election correspondent. He made several TV appearances on The Show with No Name, a show in Austin, TX, between 2000 and 2003. In 2004, he played himself in a cameo appearance on the television cartoon series Family Guy, along with friend and American Movie co-star Mike Schank. He and Mike also have their own series on Zero TV, Mark and Mike and, in 2006, Mark and Mike hosted a national television special called Night of the Living Dead: LIVE from Wisconsin on Halloween night.