Mark Douglas Brown McKinney (born June 26, 1959) is a Canadian actor and comedian. He is best known as a member of the sketch comedy troupe The Kids in the Hall, which includes starring in the 1989 to 1995 TV series '' The Kids in the Hall'' and 1996 feature film '' Brain Candy''. He was a writer on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'' from 1985 to 1986, and returned as a cast member from 1995 to 1997; and from 2003 to 2006, he co-created, wrote and starred in the series '' Slings & Arrows''. He also appeared as Tom in FXX's '' Man Seeking Woman''. From 2015 to 2021, he appeared as store manager Glenn Sturgis on NBC's '' Superstore''.

Early life

McKinney was born on June 26, 1959, in Ottawa, Ontario, to Chloe, an architectural writer, and Russell McKinney, a

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

. Because of his father's career, he did a lot of travelling when he was young. Some of the places he lived while growing up were

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, and

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

He also attended Trinity College School, a boarding school in

Port Hope, Ontario Port Hope is a municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada, about east of Toronto and west of Kingston, Ontario, Kingston. It is at the mouth of the Ganaraska River on the north shore of Lake Ontario, in the west end of Northumberland County, Onta ...

. For a short while, McKinney was a student at

Memorial University of Newfoundland Memorial University of Newfoundland, or MUN (), is a Public university, public research university in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, based in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, St. John's, with satellite campuses in Corner Brook ...

, where he was a political science major.

Career

He started performing comedy with the Loose Moose Theatre Company in Calgary, Alberta. There, McKinney met

Bruce McCulloch Bruce Ian McCulloch (born May 12, 1961) is a Canadian actor, comedian, writer, musician and film director. McCulloch is best known for his work as a member of the comedy troupe The Kids in the Hall, including starring in the TV series of the s ...

. Together they formed a comedy team called "The Audience." Eventually, McKinney and McCulloch moved to Toronto, and met

Dave Foley David Foley (born January 4, 1963) is a Canadian actor, stand-up comedian, director, producer, and writer. He is known as a co-founder of the comedy group The Kids in the Hall, who have appeared together in a number of television, stage and fil ...

and Kevin McDonald, who were in the process of forming a comedy troupe. Along with Scott Thompson, who joined after coming to a stage show, The Kids in the Hall was formed in 1985. After the Kids in the Hall caught the attention of ''

'' producer

Lorne Michaels Lorne Michaels (born Lorne David Lipowitz; November 17, 1944) is a Canadian and American television writer and film producer. He created and produced ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1980, 1985–present) and produced the ''Late Night (franchise) ...

, Michaels offered McKinney and McCulloch places on the writing staff. They accepted the offer, joining the SNL writing staff for a single season, the infamous season 11, from 1985-1986, after which SNL was nearly cancelled. Sketches written by McKinney in season 11 include El Spectaculare De Marika (episode 1), Fishermen (episode 5), and One Shoe Emma (episode 14), as well as commercial parodies Drums, Drums, Drums (episode 2), Ad Council (episode 4), and Brim Decaffeinated (episode 16). McKinney also provided a number of uncredited voice-over lines. The troupe appeared in their own TV series, '' The Kids in the Hall'', which was co-produced by

and ran from 1988 to 1995. Notable characters on the show played by McKinney include the Chicken Lady, Darill (pronounced da-RILL),

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

man Mississippi Gary, and Mr. Tyzik the Headcrusher, an embittered

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

an who pretended to crush the heads of passers-by between his thumb and forefinger. After ''The Kids in the Hall'', McKinney returned to ''

'', in the cast this time, in the middle of the 1994–1995 season (season 20) as a repertory player. McKinney survived the cast overhaul that occurred at the end of season 20 and his firing was considered at the end of season 21, but he ultimately stayed on ''SNL'' until the end of the 1996–1997 (season 22). During his time on ''SNL'', McKinney had six recurring characters (some of note include Ian Daglers from "Scottish Soccer Hooligan Weekly", Melanie, a Catholic schoolgirl, and Lucien Callow, a fop often paired with David Koechner's fop character Fagan) and twenty-seven celebrity impersonations (some of note include

Mel Gibson Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. The recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Mel Gibson, multiple accolades, he is known for directing historical films as well for his act ...

Barney Frank Barnett Frank (born March 31, 1940) is a retired American politician. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts from 1981 to 2013. A Democratic Party (United States), Democrat, Frank served as chairman of th ...

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American former politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He previously served as ...

Paul Shaffer Paul Allen Wood Shaffer (born November 28, 1949) is a Canadian musician, actor, and comedian who served as David Letterman's musical director, bandleader, and sidekick on ''Late Night with David Letterman'' (1982–1993) and ''Late Show with D ...

, Mark Russell,

Jim Carrey James Eugene Carrey (; born January 17, 1962) is a Canadian and American actor and comedian. Known primarily for his energetic slapstick performances, he has received two Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for BAFTA Awards and ...

, Lance Ito,

Tim Robbins Timothy Francis Robbins (born October 16, 1958) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Andy Dufresne in the film '' The Shawshank Redemption ''(1994), and Jacob Singer in '' Jacob's Ladder'' (1990), as well as winning an Academy ...

Steve Forbes Malcolm Stevenson Forbes Jr. (; born July 18, 1947) is an American publishing executive and politician who is the editor-in-chief of ''Forbes'', a business magazine. He is the son of longtime ''Forbes'' publisher Malcolm Forbes and the grandso ...

, Wolf Blitzer,

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American businessman and philanthropist. A pioneer of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, he co-founded the software company Microsoft in 1975 with his childhood friend ...

, and

Ellen DeGeneres Ellen Lee DeGeneres ( ; born January 26, 1958) is an American former comedian, actress, television host, writer, and producer. She began her career in stand-up comedy in the early 1980s, gaining national attention with a 1986 appearance on '' ...

). He has appeared in several films, including the ''SNL'' spinoffs ''

Superstar A superstar is someone who has great popular appeal and is widely known, prominent, or successful in their field. Celebrities referred to as "superstars" may include individuals who work as actors, musicians, athletes, and other media-based profe ...

'', ''

The Ladies Man ''The Ladies Man'' is a 1961 American comedy film directed by and starring Jerry Lewis. It was released on June 28, 1961, by Paramount Pictures. Plot Herbert H. Heebert is a young man who loses his girlfriend, swears off romance, and then tak ...

'' and ''

A Night at the Roxbury ''A Night at the Roxbury'' is a 1998 American comedy film based on a recurring sketch on television's long-running ''Saturday Night Live'' called " The Roxbury Guys". ''Saturday Night Live'' regulars Will Ferrell, Chris Kattan, Molly Shannon, ...

''. McKinney also starred opposite

Isabella Rossellini Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini (; born 18 June 1952) is an Italian actress and model. The daughter of Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman and Italian film director Roberto Rossellini, she is noted for her successful tenure as a Lancôme ...

Guy Maddin Guy Maddin (born February 28, 1956) is a Canadian screenwriter, director, author, cinematographer, film editor and installation artist. He is known for his fascination with lost Silent film, Silent-era films and for incorporating their aestheti ...

's tragicomedy '' The Saddest Music in the World''. He also appeared in the

Spice Girls The Spice Girls are an English girl group formed in 1994, consisting of Mel B ("Scary Spice"), Melanie C ("Sporty Spice"), Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice"), Geri Halliwell ("Ginger Spice"), and Victoria Beckham ("Posh Spice"). They have sold over 10 ...

' movie '' Spice World''. In 1999 he appeared in the Canadian television film adaptation '' Jacob Two Two Meets the Hooded Fang''. McKinney cowrote and starred in the Kids in the Hall movie '' Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy'', in which, among other roles, he spoofed ''SNL'' and ''KITH'' executive producer

Theatre

His theatre appearances include ''The Ugly Man'' with One Yellow Rabbit at the Edinburgh Fringe festival and

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. He was in the cast of The Roundabout theatre production of ''Flea in her Ear'' and David Lindsay Abaire's '' Fuddy Meers'' for the

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

theatre club. During the fall of 2001 McKinney performed the one-man show ''Fully Committed'' at the Wintergarden theatre in Toronto and again in the summer of 2002 at the Centaur Theatre in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. In September 2022 he appeared in the European premiere of '' Eureka Day'' at

The Old Vic The Old Vic is a 1,000-seat, nonprofit producing theatre in Waterloo, London, England. It was established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, and renamed in 1833 the Royal Victoria Theatre. In 1871 it was rebuilt and reopened as the Royal ...

theatre in London.

Later appearances

He also appeared in the first season of '' Robson Arms'', as well as on the Canadian comedy ''

Corner Gas ''Corner Gas'' is a Canadian television sitcom created by Brent Butt. The series ran for six seasons from 2004 to 2009. Reruns still air on CTV, CTV2, CTV Comedy Channel, Much, E! and are streaming on Crave and Amazon Prime. The series ...

''. From 2003 to 2006, he co-created, co-wrote and starred in the TV series '' Slings & Arrows'', about the backstage goings-on in a Canadian

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

an theatre company struggling with financial problems as they rehearse and present various productions. In 2006–07, he both worked as a story editor on and a recurring role in

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

's ''

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip ''Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip'' is an American comedy-drama television series created for NBC and primarily written by Aaron Sorkin. The series was about the production of a live comedy series similar to ''Saturday Night Live''. Produced by ...

'' as Andy Mackinaw, a humourless widowed writer/story editor for the

show-within-a-show A story within a story, also referred to as an embedded narrative, is a literary device in which a character within a story becomes the narrator of a second story (within the first one). Multiple layers of stories within stories are sometime ...

. He appeared as a cast member on the

CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...

comedy '' Hatching, Matching, and Dispatching'' and its 2017 follow up ''A Christmas Fury''. He directed the short film ''Not Pretty, Really'' for the 2006 anthology '' Shorts in Motion: The Art of Seduction''. As well, he directed and appeared on the

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction are genres of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astronom ...

comedy '' Steve, The First'' and its sequel, '' Steve, The Second'', for his friend Matt Watts. He also wrote one episode of Watts' sitcom '' Michael, Tuesdays and Thursdays'', which aired on

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

in fall 2011."Camelot & cover songs: Inside CBC's new fall lineup"
. ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper and the flagship publication of the American-owned Postmedia Network. It is published Mondays through Saturdays, with Monday released as a digital e-edition only.

'', June 8, 2011. In the summer of 2007, he became the show-runner and executive producer of '' Less Than Kind'', a half hour comedy starring

Maury Chaykin Maury Alan Chaykin (July 27, 1949 – July 27, 2010) was an American-Canadian actor. Described as "one of the most recognizable faces in Canadian cinema," he was best known for his portrayal of Rex Stout's detective Nero Wolfe on the televi ...

. McKinney was in an episode of the Canadian children's TV show '' Dino Dan'' called "Prehistoric Zoo/Ready? Set? Dino!" He plays Dino Dan's track coach in the second part, "Ready? Set? Dino!", of this two-part episode released 4 October 2010 (Canada). He co-wrote and starred in the ''Kids in the Hall'' 2010 reunion project '' Death Comes to Town''. In 2011, he was an executive producer of '' Picnicface'', a sketch TV series from the Halifax comedy troupe of the same name produced for The Comedy Network. In 2013, he co-starred in '' Rocket Monkeys'' as the main antagonist, Lord Peel. In 2014, he appeared in the CBC television series '' The Best Laid Plans''.Bill Brioux
"‘Best Laid Plans’ turns satiric focus on politics"
''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

'', January 4, 2014. Beginning in 2015, he was a co-star on the NBC sitcom '' Superstore'' which was cancelled in 2021. In 2020, he appeared as a guest on the ''

'' marathon fundraiser episode of ''

The George Lucas Talk Show ''The George Lucas Talk Show'' is an improvised talk show in New York City hosted by comedian Connor Ratliff, who appears as George Lucas, the creator of ''Star Wars'', and he interviews real guests as themselves in a panel format. He is jo ...

'' In 2022, he joined the other Kids in the Hall for an eight-episode sixth season on Amazon Prime. In 2024, he hosted the documentary series '' Mark McKinney Needs a Hobby'' for CTV. In 2025, he appeared in several episodes of the sketch comedy series '' This Hour Has 22 Minutes'', as prime minister

Mark Carney Mark Joseph Carney (born March 16, 1965) is a Canadian politician and economist who has served as the 24th and current Prime Minister of Canada, prime minister of Canada since 2025. He has served as Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, lead ...

. According to McKinney, the idea was launched after a post he made to X was mistakenly attributed to Carney, with ''22 Minutes'' writers Mike Allison and Mark Critch contacting him to offer him the role soon afterward.Vivian Rashotte
"How Mark McKinney became Mark Carney"

CBC Arts CBC Arts () is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that creates and curates written articles, short documentaries, non-fiction series and interactive projects that represent the excellence of Canada's diverse artistic communitie ...

, April 23, 2025.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:McKinney, Mark Living people 20th-century Canadian comedians 21st-century Canadian comedians 20th-century Canadian male actors 21st-century Canadian male actors Male actors from Ottawa Canadian male film actors Canadian male television actors Canadian male television writers Canadian television writers Canadian male voice actors Canadian television personalities Canadian television producers Best Supporting Actor Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners The Kids in the Hall members Best Actor in a Drama Series Canadian Screen Award winners Canadian sketch comedians Memorial University of Newfoundland alumni Canadian male comedians Comedians from Ottawa Canadian Comedy Award winners 1959 births Canadian Screen Award winning writers Canadian satirists Canadian television show creators Canadian satirical television show creators