Full Article - Mark Steines

Picture this: Tom Cruise sited at the 1980 Republican Convention in New Orleans.
Chaos ensues. Only, it is Tom Cruise. The cameraman Tom Cruise-look-alike,
whose name is actually Mark Steines, finds himself chased down by
as he attempts to cover the convention which results in
havoc.
T
hecopshadtocome
andrescueusfromPat
O’Brien’sBar,itgotso
crazyandwecaused
suchascene,”recalls
Steines,whorecentlybeganhis16th
seasonwithET.“Asthepolicewere
escortingmefromtheestablishment
theylookedatmeandsaid,‘Mr.
Cruise,thenexttimeyoucometo
ourcity,pleaseletusknowsowecan
makesureyouhaveasecuritydetail
forasafevisit.’Ididn’thavethenads
totellthem.Ileteverybodybelieve
thedream,”hesayswithalaugh.
“Therearepeoplewalkingaroundto
thisdaywhohavenapkinswithTom’s
nameonit.”
Steinessaysitwasthiscase
ofmistakenidentitythatledtohisbig
breakandultimatelytohisjobonET.
“Ihadthreejoboffersafterthatpiece
ranonET.Itwasthatincidentthat
putmeoncamera.AndthenIflopped
aroundlikeafishoutofwater,trying
togetmyfeetunderme.Iwasso
greenandmadesomanymistakes,but
Iendeduplandingonmyfeet.”
Landingonhisfeethasalways
beenthisIowaboy’smantra.An
injurykepthimfromacareerinhis
firstchosenprofessionoffootball.
Evenafterrecoveringfromaherniated
discinhisbackhereceivedduringhis
junioryearasastarter,withinhisfirst
practiceofhissenioryear,heblew
outhisknee.“Itwasdevastating.I
hadpinnedallmyhopesanddreams
onthat,”recallsSteines,whothen
decidedtopursueelectronicmedia
andbecomeasportscaster.“Ifigured
ifIcouldn’tplayit,Icouldtalkabout
it,butascomfortableasIwasonthe
field,Iwasscaredtodeathtogetin
frontofthecamera.”
Applyingforhisfirstjobin
Dubuque,Iowa,atKDUB,Channel
40,hefiguredifhecouldnotmakeit
there,hecouldnotmakeitanywhere.
Thenhefoundhimselfunabletoget
somuchasameeting.Thoughitwas
dishearteningtoreceiverejection
letterswithmisspelledwordsand
terriblegrammar,hepersevered.
He earned $11,000 a year at
his first television job. “Trying to
survive on that…” his voice trails.
“The first suits I wore on camera
were old 1960 narrow lapel suits from
garage sales. That’s all I could find. Fortunately, I didn’t have to dress
from the waist down, so there were
times I only needed a jacket and some
of the cheapest ties.”
It was almost seven years
to the week after the New Orleans
incident that Steines received his job
with Entertainment Tonight. With the
countless celebrities the 46-year-old
host has interviewed, ironically, he has
never had the opportunity to conduct
a one-on-one with Tom Cruise, but
cites Cher as one of his biggest thrills. “Having moments with her through
my career have been great. She sang
the National Anthem at the Super
Bowl and walks off the field, I yell,
and she stops and goes through the
crowd and gives me a big kiss. Aw,
come on, that didn’t just happen. I
mean, I grew up watching her when
she would have Chastity on her hip on
The Sonny and Cher Show.” And then
flying with John Travolta in his private
jet was spectacular.” When asked who his less than
terrific interview was, he says, “I did
not have a good encounter with Penny
Marshall. Without going into details,
it just wasn’t pleasant. I don’t think it
was a personal attack on me so much
as maybe she wasn’t having a good
day. If I don’t interview her ever
again, I’m OK with that.”
It is a job he loves, but it is
a job and the one element he does
not care for is that it requires a lot of
traveling, which keeps him from his
wife, former Miss America, Leanza
Cornett and his two boys, Kai, 9 and
Avery, 7.
Fatherhood changed his life at
36. “It made me realize why I’m here. It all makes sense now. When Kai first
came home from the hospital, I was on
the phone telling someone about the
experience and he started to cry for the
first time. I remember hearing him and
it hit me -- that’s my son’s voice. He
was upstairs with Leanza and I felt this
overwhelming sense of family. What
hit me was that I had waited my entire
life to meet him, not knowing that I
was waiting for that. The same with
Avery. It provides so much balance
in my life. I have the personality
that if I didn’t have kids, I probably
would be living a crazy lifestyle. They really keep you in order. They
put boundaries in place. They add
structure because there’s routine
involved, disciplines. It was always
about my career, but when they came
into my life I began to understand why
it really is that I go to work; to provide
and to show them examples of leading
a life full of passion and following a
dream.”
Another profound lifechanging experience occurred for
Steines in 2009 when he accompanied
pediatrician Dr. Bob Hamilton on a
ten-day trip to Sierra Leone, which
resulted in a book he self published
(with Blurb) called See the Light:
A Passage to Sierra Leone, the
profits from which go to Lighthouse
Medical Missions. “I love photography and I
love being behind the camera. That’s
where my career started and I had
talked to Dr. Bob, our pediatrician,
who had done these trips, numerous
times. I had hosted and rallied people
to raise money, but I felt I never had
a good visual on what he was talking
about. I said, ‘A picture is worth a
thousand words. Let me go along and
shoot this and see if I can’t come back
and bring about change to help you in
a way to continue doing your efforts.’ “It is very important to keep the arts alive and well in our public
schools,” says Steines, who clearly relishes being able to make
a difference in the world and the community. “It is a privilege
and an honor to be able to raise money and awareness.“
My goal was to help bring a message
back to make a change, to salute him
and applaud all he’s done. I did it,
and in the process, there was a huge
change that hit me." Steines says coming back
into his world of being pampered
was extremely difficult. "I had gone
through being in these small villages
and had seen how difficult it was for
survival and their lack of health and
education, clean and running water.
Then I came back and sat in the hair
and make-up chair and there was
craft services and such abundance. I
thought if we ever took one of these
people from Sierra Leone and put
them in Whole Foods, they wouldn’t
believe what was there. We have so
much.” "I was 15 years into ET of
glitz and glamour of covering the
Super Bowls and Oscars and the trip
to Sierra Leone was the re-set button
that put me back in a place that helped
me find a center and a balance. I am
making plans to do more.” That place of center and
balance also lead him to another issue
that concerns him -- the dwindling
funds for arts in the schools. Steines has become involved with Artists for
the Arts Foundation and implores
everyone to take a look at the website
www.AFTAFoundation.org. “It is
very important to keep the arts alive
and well in our public schools,”
says Steines, who clearly relishes
being able to make a difference in
the world and the community. “It is
a privilege and an honor to be able
to raise money and awareness.” However, it is also more
personal. Steines knows that
everything he does affects his
two little boys as well. “I want to
be the man and father they think
I am, because that sets the bar
pretty high. If I can be half that
person, I know I’ve accomplished
something.”