General Hospital Alum Mark Lawson Celebrates His Birthday

While Dustin Phillips didn’t survive the explosion at The Floating Rib a while back on General Hospital, actor Mark Lawson is celebrating a very special milestone.

Happy Birthday, Mark Lawson

That’s because he was born on December 17, 1979, in Bristol, Virginia, which means that this talented performer is turning 44 today! Having graduated from the Boston Conservatory with a degree in Musical Theatre, Lawson’s next stop was the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

After a year at the prestigious institution, Lawson moved to Los Angeles hoping to jump-start his acting career. Aside from appearing in an episode of Cold Case, Lawson busied himself with auditions and paid the bills by serving as a personal trainer.

In time, Mark Lawson started his own strength and conditioning business, which he named Forge, but the disappointment at not realizing his acting ambition began to grow. Deciding that a tough call needed to be made, Lawson promised himself that he would audition for parts 10 more times. If he received no offers, he was calling it quits.

In March of 2008, he read for the role of Quinn — a new character being introduced on the ABC daytime drama series One Life to Live — and was asked to take a screen-test in New York. With that done, Lawson was hired — audition number four was the clincher.

He made his daytime debut in April of that year playing Brody (the reason for the name change was not offered) and he stayed with OLTL until its final episode on January 13, 2012.

Subsequently, he wrote, directed, and starred in the short-form horror film Peek-A-Boo and appeared in the films Dear Diary I Died, Ex-Wife Killer, and Killer Reputation. He also guest-starred on episodes of Pitch and Animal Kingdom. On July 9, 2019, Lawson joined General Hospital as a high school teacher Dustin Philips. He stayed for a year and a half before his character was a casualty in the bombing at The Floating Rib.

Soap Hub would like to wish Mark Lawson a very happy birthday and many more. Also, share your favorite memory of his work or if you’ve met him personally in the comments section.