Mark Ritts

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mark Ritts

Mark Ritts is an American actor best known for starring as "Lester the Rat" in the long-running children's television series, Beakman's World. He has had a long and varied career in the United States as a television and video writer, producer, and director. He is also a puppeteer and published author. In the early 1990s, he was Creative Director of New York City's Aniforms, Inc., a large business communications firm. There, he conceived, wrote, and directed videos, theatrical events, and multimedia presentations for a wide variety of media, industrial and institutional clients.

From 1992 to 1998, he played the man in the rat suit on CBS's celebrated science series for kids, Beakman's World. The program has been televised in nearly 90 countries around the world, and a Best Of Beakman DVD was released by Sony Corporation in September of 2004. The series is now seen in syndication throughout the United States. Also in the 1990s, Ritts was the voice and manipulator of "Kino," the Emmy Award-winning puppet co-host of PBS's Storytime, as well as one of the show's writers. His one-hour documentary on microbiology, Creators of the Future, debuted in prime time on PBS in 1999. Ritts is the co-author (with Don Fleming, Ph.D.) of a parenting book entitled Mom, I Hate You, released by Three Rivers/Random House in April, 2003. In July, 2005, he and co-producer/writer/director Ted Field released Cast Off for Catalina, a DVD about visiting and enjoying southern California's Catalina Island aboard your own boat. A second DVD, Cast Off for Mexico, is now in production. Ritts provided the voice for the character Gianciotto in the 2007 film Dante's Inferno alongside former Beakman's World co-star Paul Zaloom.