Happy Birthday, Zack Morris! Snakkle Looks Back as Mark-Paul Gosselaar Turns 40

mark paul gosselaar yearbook young baby photo

Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Born March 1, 1974

Proof that Gosselaar was, indeed, a beautiful baby. And one who clearly got his sense of humor early.

mark paul gosselaar wonder year 1988 tv photo

Gosselaar Guest-Starring on The Wonder Years (1988)

Gosselaar may have always gotten the girl in the shows in which he starred—and even the ones on which he guest-starred. In The Wonder Years, a gap-toothed Gosselaar got between Kevin (Fred Savage) and the current crush he wanted to take to the school dance.

mark paul gosselaar good morning miss bliss 1988 tv photo

Mark-Paul Gosselaar in Good Morning, Miss Bliss (1988)

Gosselaar started speaking directly to the cameras, and into the hearts of tween girls everywhere, in Good Morning, Miss Bliss. If the boys who roamed our halls looked like pint-sized Gosselaar, we would have liked school a lot more too!

mark paul gosselaar saved by the bell 1989 tv photo

Everett Collection

Mark-Paul Gosselaar with the Cast of Saved by the Bell (1989)

Were you Team Zack or Team Slater? In the early Saved by the Bell years, it actually seemed like “preppy” Gosselaar had some competition from “beefcake” Mario Lopez for the heart of all-American cheerleader Kelly Kapowski (Tiffani Thiessen).

mark paul gosselaar tom everett scott dead man campus 1998 movie photo

Getty Images

Gosselaar and Tom Everett Scott in Dead Man on Campus (1998)

Gosselaar’s darker hair and spectacles couldn’t fool us into thinking his Dead Man on Campus character, who partied too hard and wanted to exploit a student “on the verge” in order to get all A’s, wasn’t a slacker.

mark paul gosselaar hyperion bay 1998 tv photo

James Sorensen/Warner Bros./Everett Collection

Hyperion Bay's Gosselaar, Raymond J. Barry, and Dylan Neal (1998)

Gosselaar’s turn on The WB’s prime-time soap Hyperion Bay may have been his first real attempt at jumping into an older demographic, but all we’ll remember about this series is watching Gosselaar work on his laptop, shirtless, while sitting on the toilet. It was hotter than it sounds.

mark paul gosselaar beer money 2001 tv photo

USA Network/Getty Images

Gosselaar with Beer Money Costars J.P. Manoux, Mercedes McNab, Nick von Esmarch, and an Alien (2001)

No hair color could be one less found in nature than Gosselaar’s Sun-In styled Saved by the Bell 'do, right? Well, not until his Beer Money look. The show dealt with characters finding an alien and attempting to sell it to a tabloid show, and only seeing such a creature might explain how his hair could get shocked into such a state!

mark paul gosselaar princess marine 2001 tv photo

With Marisol Nichols in The Princess & the Marine (2001)

Gosselaar shaved his head and slipped on his best camouflage to portray U.S. Marine Jason Johnson, a man who risked everything, including his Army rank, to be with the woman he loved. That is exactly the kind of guy little girls with his Tiger Beat centerfolds wallpapering their bedrooms expected Gosselaar to grow up to be.

mark paul gosselaar nypd blue 2005 tv photo

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The Cast of NYPD Blue on the 20th Century Fox Lot in Los Angeles (2005)

Gosselaar with a gun is sexy, and as Detective John Clark in NYPD Blue, Gosselaar got to take down bad guys, butt heads with the cranky Andy Sipowicz, and every now and then wander out of bed completely bare-assed. The best of all worlds.

mark paul gosselaar raising bar 2008 tv photo

Gosselaar in Raising the Bar (2008)

In 2008, Gosselaar reunited with former NYPD Blue boss Steven Bochco and started his legal-drama relationship with TNT by starring as the bleeding heart Jerry Kellerman in Raising the Bar. The series ended before an on-screen romance with Natalia Cigliuti could be fully explored, which was probably for the best, because none of his longtime fans wanted to believe he’d trade Kelly Kapowski for an underclassman from The New Class!

Jordin Althaus/SHOWTIME

Gosselaar as a Bartender in Weeds on Showtime (2010)

Gosselaar’s 2010 episode of Weeds may have been entitled “Gentle Puppies,” but he was anything but gentle with Nancy (Mary-Louise Parker) during their not-suitable-for-Saturday-morning sex session!

mark paul gosselaar franklin bash tv 2011 photo

Trae Patton/TNT

Gosselaar as Peter Bash on TNT’s Franklin & Bash (2011)

As the titular Peter Bash in TNT’s Franklin & Bash, Gosselaar not only solves legal cases in unorthodox ways but invites all of his fans—new and old—to party with him in his “man cave.” He is so often found strumming an acoustic guitar, we can’t help but hope for a “Friends Forever” Unplugged remix.