Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg (born June 5, 1971) is an American
actor,
rapper and
producer of film and
television. He was known as
Marky Mark in his earlier years and became famous in his 1991 debut as a rap musician with the band
Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch.
Early life
Born in the
Dorchester neighborhood of
Boston, Massachusetts, he is the youngest of nine children,
[[1]] with siblings Arthur, Jim, Paul,
Robert, Tracey, Michelle, Debbie (died in 2003 at age 44), and
Donnie born to Alma Elaine (
née McPeck), a bank clerk and nurse's aide, and Donald E. Wahlberg, a
Teamster who worked as a delivery driver. His parents divorced in 1982. Wahlberg had a
Catholic upbringing and attended Copley Square High School (but never graduated) on
Newbury Street in
Copley Square in Boston. The campus now houses Muriel Snowden International School.
As a teenager, Wahlberg stole cars, abused drugs and alcohol, and got into fights.
At fifteen, he was amongst a group who threw rocks at a group of
African American school children on a
field trip while shouting racial epithets.
The following year, Wahlberg robbed a pharmacy while he was under the influence of
PCP. During the commission of the crime, he used racial slurs. He knocked one middle aged Vietnamese man unconscious and permanently blinded another in one eye before he was arrested by the police.
Wahlberg was tried as an adult and charged for
attempted murder. Pleading guilty to the lesser charge of assault, he was sentenced to two years in jail at Boston's
Deer Island House of Correction, of which he served 45 days.
In yet another incident, it was alleged the 21-year-old Wahlberg fractured the jaw of a neighbor in an unprovoked attack.
Music career
Wahlberg was assisted to fame as the younger brother of
Donnie Wahlberg of the successful 1980s and 1990s
boy band New Kids on the Block. Mark, at age thirteen, had been one of the group's original members, along with Donnie,
Danny Wood,
Jordan Knight, and
Jonathan Knight. Uninterested in the group's
bubblegum pop style, however, he soon quit. It was his departure that eventually allowed
Joe McIntyre to take his place as the fifth member of the group.
Wahlberg began recording as
Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch and earned a hit with "
Good Vibrations" from the album
Music for the People.
The record was produced by brother Donnie and later hit #1 on The
Billboard Hot 100, later becoming certified as a
Platinum single. In the video, widely broadcast on music video channels, Mark was shown boxing, lifting weights and posing shirtless, showing off his bare, muscled torso.
The second single by the group, "Wildside," peaked at #5 on
Billboards Hot Singles Sales chart and at #10 on
The Billboard Hot 100.
It was certified as a
Gold single. Marky Mark opened for the
New Kids on the Block during their last tour. The second Marky Mark LP,
You Gotta Believe, wasn't as successful as the prior, yielding only a minor hit single in the title track. Wahlberg later collaborated with reggae / ragga singer
Prince Ital Joe.
Mark's cocky, street-wise persona contributed to his fame. During concert performances, he was known for being shirtless and dropping his pants.
In the dedication of his 1992 book
Marky Mark, co-authored with photographer Lynn Goldsmith, Wahlberg says in the preface that "I wanna dedicate this book to my cock".
Advertising career
Wahlberg is known for his impressive
physique.
He first displayed it in the
Good Vibrations music video and most prominently in a series of underwear ads for
Calvin Klein shot by
Herb Ritts, following it with Calvin Klein television ads. In 1992 the Calvin Klein billboard in New York's
Times Square featured Wahlberg exclusively.
Magazine and television promotions would sometimes feature him exclusively or accompanied by model
Kate Moss.
[[Annie Leibovitz] shot Wahlberg in underwear for
Vanity Fairs annual Hall of Fame issue. He made a workout video titled The Marky Mark Workout: Form... Focus... Fitness
(ISBN 1-55510-910-1).
Film career
[
Wahlberg crop.jpg|thumb|At the [[Shooter (2007 film)|Shooter] premiere in London, March 2007]]
Wahlberg then began an acting career, making his debut in the 1993 TV movie
The Substitute. His big screen debut came the next year, with the
Danny DeVito feature
Renaissance Man.
A basketball fanatic, he caught the attention of critics after appearing in
The Basketball Diaries in 1995, playing the role of Mickey alongside
Leonardo DiCaprio, in a film adaptation of the
Jim Carroll book of the same name. He also starred in the 1996
James Foley thriller
Fear.
He earned many positive reviews after successful movies like
Boogie Nights as
Dirk Diggler,
Three Kings,
The Perfect Storm,
The Italian Job, and
Four Brothers.
His performance in
I ♥ Huckabees was voted best supporting performance of the year in the 2004
Village Voice Critics Poll. Wahlberg was originally cast as Linus Caldwell in
Ocean's Eleven;
Matt Damon played the role. The two later worked together in
The Departed.
Wahlberg was also considered for a role in the film
Brokeback Mountain. It was originally intended to star him and
Joaquin Phoenix, but Wahlberg was uncomfortable with the film's sex scenes and his role ultimately went to
Jake Gyllenhaal.
Wahlberg starred in the
American football drama
Invincible, based on the true story of bartender-turned-
Philadelphia Eagle Vince Papale. He is also the
executive producer of the
HBO series
Entourage, which is loosely based on his experiences in
Hollywood. He also appeared as a foul-mouthed
Massachusetts State Police detective in
Martin Scorsese's critically acclaimed thriller
The Departed in 2006, for which he won the
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor and netted him nominations for the
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture.
Wahlberg has confirmed that he was approached to star in a sequel to
The Departed, but it is still early in development. The sequel would reportedly revolve around Staff Sergeant Dignam played by Wahlberg.
[IGN.com article about Departed 2 problems. Retrieved 2007-02-09.]
To prepare for his role in
Shooter, Wahlberg attended long-range shooting training at
Front Sight Firearms Training Institute near
Pahrump, Nevada, and was able to hit a target at 2000 yards on his first day, a feat which took his instructor about six months to achieve.
He has said in a number of interviews that he will retire at the age of 40 to concentrate on parenthood
and
professional golf. However, in early 2007 he indicated that the latter was no longer the plan as "his golf game is horrible".
He stars as Jack Salmon in
Peter Jackson's film of
The Lovely Bones.
In 2007 he starred opposite
Joaquin Phoenix in
We Own the Night, a movie about a family of police officers in New York City. The movie also stars
Robert Duvall and
Eva Mendes.
He starred in
M. Night Shyamalan's
The Happening as Eliot Moore, which opened in movie theatres on June 13, 2008. The same year, he played the title role in
Max Payne, based on a video game of the
same name. While promoting
Max Payne, Wahlberg became involved in a staged feud with
Saturday Night Lives Andy Samberg and threatened to "crack that big (bleep)ing nose of his." Samberg had done an impression of Wahlberg in a Saturday Night Live skit titled "Mark Wahlberg Talks To Animals."Video game career
Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch had their own video game in the
Marky Mark: Make My Video game series on the
Sega Mega-CD. Using various effects, the player is supposed to produce new versions of the videos to Marky Mark songs like "Good Vibrations" and "I Need Money". PC World.ca listed it as the eighth worst video game of all time. Recently, Wahlberg played the titular character in the
Max Payne film based on the popular
video games. Even though he played the character in the film, he has stated that he is not going to play the games.
Personal life
Wahlberg is a practicing
Roman Catholic.
He married model
Rhea Durham on August 1, 2009 in a private Catholic ceremony in
Beverly Hills, California.
They have three children together, daughter Ella Rae (born in September 2003), and sons Michael (born in March 2006) and Brendan Joseph (born in September 2008). The couple announced in September 2009 that they are expecting their fourth child,
which Wahlberg later announced was a daughter.
Actively involved in charity, Wahlberg established the
Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation in May 2001 for the purpose of raising and distributing funds to youth service and enrichment programs.
Wahlberg has four tattoos done by various artists including
Paul Timman.
[Dunlop Tires (November 1, 2005). "Sunset Strip Artist To Ink Dunlop Treads At SEMA Show". Press release. Retrieved on 2008-06-03.] The tattoos include Sylvester the cat with Tweety in his mouth on his ankle, a tattoo of his initials MW with Wahlberg through them on his upper right arm, and a
Bob Marley tattoo with "One Love" on his upper left arm.
[Mark Wahlberg Tattoos Photos Pictures Pics Of His Tattoos] The final tattoo, which Wahlberg holds as his most meaningful, is the
rosary tattoed around his neck, with a crucifix and the words "In God I Trust" resting over his heart.
His father, a US Army veteran of the Korean War, died on February 14, 2008.
Discography
With the Funky Bunch
With Prince Ital Joe
Filmography
Films
Producer
