THE CASUAL BIO

Marvin Payne is a professional actor, writer, songsmith, and recording artist.
     The fact that most of his clothes are from D.I. while his guitars are from C.F. Martin gives the clearest glimpse into his material priorities.
     He has released a dozen albums of original songs and has helped craft widely-produced plays, including "The Planemaker," "Charlie's Monument," "The Trail of Dreams," "Wedlocked," and "Take the Mountain Down."
     He's done everything from Shakespeare to "Phantom," but he usually gets recognized in the mall as the guy behind daddy's nose in "Saturday's Warrior."
     Favorite roles he didn't write include Sweeney Todd, J. Golden Kimball, and the hard-drinking profane attorney who prosecuted the killers of Joseph Smith.
     In the film "Man's Search For Happiness," he is the Man Who Searches.
     For kids, he plays Boo the dog, Theo the tortoise, Lou the Rhinocerous, and a scruffy critter named Lorenzo who has a magic songbook.
     If he is remembered by history, it will be because he is his children's father. They are songwriters, singing actresses, theatrical designers, and monster jazz guitarists.
     Marvin Payne lives in a cabin in Alpine, Utah, with his lovely singing actress wife Laurie, magical daughter Caitlin Willow, rowdy John Riley, funny and compassionate Adwen Lea, more guitars than is wholesome, a banjo, and a cardboard moon from "The Fantasticks." He is fond of Winnie-the-Pooh, sopranos, oceans, mountaintops, and anything involving tortillas.
     He plants a garden every year, all on one late May afternoon, and it always grows.
     For fun, he rambles long distances in the Wasatch mountains rehearsing lines to vast audiences of bewildered squirrels. He often carries with him a rifle in the style of century-old Winchesters. The squirrels are perfectly safe, but there are bottles up on those ridges that will never hold beer again.