Mark-Paul Gosselaar - Early Life

Early Life

Gosselaar, the youngest of four children, was born in Panorama City, California, the son of Pauline (van den Brink), a homemaker and hostess for KLM, and Hans Gosselaar, a plant supervisor for Anheuser-Busch. His father, who is from the Netherlands, is of Dutch Jewish and German descent. His mother, who is of Dutch-Indonesian descent, is from Bali in Indonesia. At one point, Gosselaar was fluent in Dutch (his older siblings were born in the Netherlands). Gosselaar's parents later separated.

Gosselaar's mother worked as his manager. He began modeling at the age of 5. As a child, he appeared in commercials for Oreo cookies and Smurf merchandise, and later won guest spots on television series. He spent his teenage years in the Santa Clarita Valley in Southern California, where he attended Hart High School.