Mark-Paul Gosselaar challenged himself to get in shape for his newest role, which he found to be “one of the hardest things” he has done for a project.
“The simplest way to explain Bulges is that it is essentially a male version of Hooters,” Gosselaar, 52, exclusively told Us while previewing the upcoming series. “It’s a restaurant called Bulges and it’s a workplace comedy at its core. It’s a lot of wacky, off-the-cuff, very reverent comedy and it’s been fun.”
Gosselaar, who was promoting his partnership with AstraZeneca for their cancer biomarker testing campaign, was excited to push himself for the new gig.
“It gave me a great opportunity to get in a really good shape,” he noted. “That was a challenge that I wanted to see if I could do. I was very happy with the outcome of it.”
Gosselaar clarified that it wasn’t easy on his body, adding, “It was harder than I expected. It was one of the hardest things that I’ve had to do physically for a role. The most demanding. I had five months to get in the shape that I wanted. I pitched to the creators of the show — that are also costars on the show — I told them the shape that I wanted to get into. I had about five months and it was the first time in my entire career that I actually hired a trainer because I wanted someone else to be accountable for the process.”
It was a “really difficult” experience that Gosselaar found to be “worth it.”
“I got the results that I wanted, but they always talk about this and I never really understood it. These figures aren’t completely accurate, but 80 percent [is] diet and the rest of it is working out and living a healthy lifestyle,” he said. “But it really was what the diet was like. Something I had no idea was how important that was.”
Gosselaar continued: “We’re hoping for a season 2. We’re looking forward to that and I’ve been staying in a state of readiness where I have about six weeks where I can get back into that shape. But I want to push it a little further next time. I want to be a little bit more. I just want a different look to maybe even push the envelope a little bit further.”
Before the show’s release, Gosselaar went viral while wearing a crop top to promote the project at an upfronts event in June. The internet was divided over his abs being on display, with some claiming they were “fake.”
“Before [I took the stage], on the red carpet, someone had asked me about the shape that I was in and I said, ‘Oh, it’s just all smoke and mirrors. It was a bodysuit.’ I was just saying self-deprecating humor about myself,” he recalled. “But that’s what kind of went viral. As if my body up on stage was somehow altered. But the interesting thing was they discussed my body, but they didn’t discuss the fact that I had a massive bulge. So I was actually OK with that. It was kind of a win, in a way.”
While speaking with Us, Gosselaar opened up about how he chooses roles at this stage in his career after early child stardom.
“You think you have a plan and then it just goes to the side. When they approached me with Bulges, in their words, there was no way in hell that I would accept this role. And I looked at it and I thought, ‘Well, first of all, the physical aspect of it would be challenging. Second, I haven’t done a comedy like this in a long time,’” he noted. “Coming off of Found [on NBC], it was a complete departure from that character, and I thought, ‘Well, why not? Let’s give it a shot.’ It’s something that you gamble with, and at this point in my career, I’m fortunate enough to have that ability to take chances. This is a complete chance.”
Gosselaar was excited to put his comedic timing to the test, saying, “There’s a lot of physical comedy, which I love, but it doesn’t come easy to me. … So this took a little while for me to remember that it’s a comedy. You gotta loosen up a little, which is not like me. So it’s good for me actually. For me to do comedy is almost like a cleansing. It allows me to get silly again and smile a little bit more, which I think everybody needs to do.”
In addition to his work on screen, Gosselaar has partnered with AstraZeneca to launch Meet Your Mark, a new awareness campaign designed to make cancer biomarker testing feel more personal and approachable.
“Having loved ones diagnosed with cancer, it is something that affects almost everyone and I wanted to lend my voice with AstraZeneca, with this new public health campaign called Meet Your Mark. Essentially, we’re just trying to get the word out there about biomarkers and how it is an option for people to talk with their doctors about to start a conversation,” he explained. “A lot of the time, when someone is diagnosed, or they know a loved one that’s been diagnosed, they feel like their world is spinning. So we’re just giving them a second to understand that there are options to talk with your doctors, start a conversation, see if biomarker testing is right for them.”
Gosselaar is hoping the campaign will show how biomarker testing may help guide more informed and personalized treatment decisions.
“Having information can sometimes just ease the process to understand that each cancer is different. We now have the ability through blood and tissue testing to understand each individual’s cancer a little bit better,” he continued. “And sometimes with your medical professional, they can through these clues and through biomarker testing can figure out a more personalized treatment plan. So it’s a start.”
He concluded: “A lot of the time, it’s not only the person who has been diagnosed, but it’s the caregiver. It’s the person that might be in the room with you, while this is being discussed, that while they’re processing, that person and the other person in the room can ask these questions. We’re just trying to get the word out there that this exists, and that there’s options.”
