Mark Preston Curry was born on 27 August 1961 in Stafford, Staffordshire. He grew up in the mining village of Allerton Bywater near Castleford in West Yorkshire. His father, Arthur, a physical training instructor and prison officer, died when Curry was five. His mother, Lily, was a maternity nurse.

Curry’s entertainment career began at the age of seven, when he auditioned for Jess Yates, the executive producer of Yorkshire Television’s Junior Showtime. He was a regular performer on the show from 1969 to 1974, and attended the Jean Pearce School of Dancing in Leeds throughout the early 1970s. He also played Oscar “the Worm” in the 1976 film Bugsy Malone.

Mark moved to Manchester to present live Saturday morning TV shows for the BBC, then moved to London to present Blue Peter in the late 1980s. On 23 June 1986, he joined Blue Peter, presenting alongside Janet Ellis, Peter Duncan, Caron Keating, Yvette Fielding, and John Leslie. He left on 30 June 1989.

Since his Blue Peter days, Mark has presented Catchphrase and Record Breakers, become a sports commentator on BBC Radio 5 Live at Wimbledon, and in 2016 joined the cast of the West End musical Wicked, playing the Wizard — a role he has reprised multiple times. He currently lives in Eastbourne and Spain.