Donald Edmond "Donnie" Wahlberg, Jr. (born August 17, 1969) is an
American singer, actor and
film producer. He is a member of the popular 1980s and 1990s
boy band New Kids on the Block and is the older brother of fellow actor/
musician Mark Wahlberg. His background includes
music,
feature films, and
television. Donnie has had featured roles in the
Saw films,
Boomtown and
Righteous Kill, additionally acting in the award-winning
World War II miniseries
Band of Brothers.
Early life
He was born in the
Dorchester neighborhood of
Boston, Massachusetts, as the eighth of nine children, with older siblings Arthur, Jim, Paul,
Robert, Tracey, Michelle, Debbie and younger sibling
Mark. He also has three half-siblings from his father's first marriage- Donna, Scott and Buddy. His mother, Alma Elaine (
née Donnelly), was a bank clerk and nurse's aid, and his father, Donald Edmond Wahlberg, Sr. was a
teamster who worked as a delivery driver; the two divorced in 1982.
[Donnie Wahlberg Biography (1969-)][Donnie Wahlberg Biography - Yahoo! Movies] He has mostly
Irish, and some
Swedish and
French Canadian ancestry.
[Ancestry of Mark Wahlberg]
Career
New Kids on the Block
At age fifteen, Wahlberg joined
New Kids on the Block and in a few years they went from playing at high school(snowden International) parties to becoming a
pop music sensation. Donnie was known as the "bad boy" of the group and was known to curse during live performances on awards shows.
