Marc was first mentored by Gene Kelly's brother, Fred Kelly, as both a performer and director. Marc Baron worked closely with Sidney Lumet and Woody Allen gaining on-set training in film directing. It was at the urging of Dustin Hoffman and Matthew Broderick on the set of "Family Business" (was Matthew Broderick's stand-in/double) where he also got daily insights on film directing by Sidney Lymet, who was writing his book "Making Movies."