(written from a Production point of view)
Mark Worthington is a Production Designer who worked on the first twelve episodes of Star Trek: Discovery's first season.
Worthington earned his BA in Theatre from Reed College and his MFA in Set Design from Carnegie Mellon University. His first credit as art production assistant received Worthington for his work on Two Evil Eyes (1990, with Adrienne Barbeau and James G. MacDonald). He then worked as assistant art director on Posse (1993, with Tommy "Tiny" Lister, Jr., Salli Richardson, Robert Hooks, Christopher Michael, and Bob Minor) before he received his first credit as art director for his work on Tombstone (1993).
Beside working as set designer on Freaked (1993) and Mad City (1997), his credits as art director include Mad Love (1995), The Chamber (1996), The Empty Mirror (1996), Wag the Dog (1997), U.S. Marshals (1998, directed by Stuart Baird), Town & Country (2001), Hearts in Atlantis (2001), Austin Powers in Goldmember (2001), Moonlight Mile (2002), Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde (2003), and in a Date with Tad Hamilton! (2004).
Since 2001, Worthington has also been working as production designer on projects such as Christmas in the Clouds (2001), the television comedy On the Edge (2001), Straight-Jacket (2004), the television drama The Catch (2005, written and produced by J.J. Abrams and starring and produced by Greg Grunberg), and Believe in Me (2006).
Worthington previously worked with J.J. Abrams on the pilot episode of his series Lost in 2004. The pilot was written, directed, and executive produced by Abrams, written and produced by Damon Lindelof, produced by Bryan Burk, starred Daniel Dae Kim, Terry O'Quinn, Jonathan Dixon, and Greg Grunberg, and featured music by Michael Giacchino. For Lost, Worthington received his first Excellence in Production Design Award nomination from the Art Directors Guild in the category Single-Camera Television Series in 2005.
Between 2006 and 2010, Worthington worked as production designer on all four seasons of Ugly Betty. The series starred Tony Plana and Vanessa Williams and Worthington won an Excellence in Production Design Award from the Art Directors Guild in the category Episode of a Single-Camera Television Series in 2007. He received three more nominations for this series in the following three years as well as two Primetime Emmy Award nominations in the category Outstanding Art Direction for a Single-Camera Series in 2007 and 2008. Worthington made his directorial debut with the fourth season episode "London Calling" in 2010.
Further credits as production designer include Love Bites (2011, starring Greg Grunberg), the pilot episodes of Once Upon a Time (2011) and Political Animals (2012), and episodes of Backstrom (2015) and Battle Creek (2015, directed and executive produced by Bryan Singer and art direction by Andrew E.W. Murdock).
Between 2011 and 2015, Worthington worked as production designer on the first five seasons of American Horror Story on which he worked with Zachary Quinto and James Cromwell and art director Andrew E.W. Murdock. This work earned him three Excellence in Production Design Awards from the Art Directors Guild in the category Television Movie or Limited Series in 2013, 2015, and 2016 as well as nominations in 2012 and 2014. Among the many people he shared these awards with are Lauren E. Polizzi, Andrew E.W. Murdock, and Kevin Houlihan. Worthington also won an OFTA Television Award from the Online Film & Television Association in the category Best Production Design in a Non-Series in 2013 and two nominations in 2012 and 2014 as well as four Primetime Emmy Award nominations in the category Outstanding Art Direction for a Miniseries or Movie in 2012, 2013, and 2014.
Among his more recent credits as production designer was also the first season of Scream Queens (2015, stunt coordinated by Jay Caputo) and the pilot episode of the crime/drama series Citizen (2016).