Stern, who brought Marv to life on screen, has detailed his path into the acting world on his website. He recounts his early years as a “terrible student” who “dropped out of high school” at 17 and relocated to New York to pursue acting.
By the age of 23, Stern was married and had become a father, which meant he “obviously had to just focus on [his] show business career.”
Reflecting on his career, Stern stated, “I did a lot of great movies but there came a point where I missed being away from my family. I decided to stop traveling so much, stay home and focus on my family and my other artistic passions.”
The decision, he says, resulted in “a wonderful family life and this body of work.”
His artistic foundation was laid in school where he excelled in “theatre, choir, band, woodshed, metal shop, ceramics and sculpture.”
In a conversation with Entertainment Tonight, Stern elaborated on his choice to share his new ventures on social media and his passion for creativity.
He mentioned, “The social media thing is interesting that it’s much more intimate and much more me and you know, I can do funny things on it. We’re got pickers and growers, we’re job creators that way you know, it’s wonderful to see. We give a portion of it to food banks and stuff so it’s a wonderful life and just for me personally, I need the solitude myself. I just need the solitude and I got it.”
Stern also expressed his love for creating, saying, “And I love creating and they talk about creators on social media and that makes sense to me – I created a book, I created a sculpture, I created a character, I create a script. You know, making stuff out of nothing, that’s what humans can do and it’s so fun on the social media thing to watch all these creators – they got a story to tell, another story, another story […] I never thought somebody could do that and that and that and so I just going to be play my part in those things, stay healthy, teach my grandkids everything I know, give back.”