Background

Ethnicity: Wahlberg's father was of half Swedish and half Irish ancestry, and his mother is of Irish, English, and French Canadian descent.

Born on June 5, 1971, in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg is one of nine children, with siblings Arthur, Jim, Paul, Robert, Tracey, Michelle, Debbie, and Donnie Wahlberg. His mother, Alma Elaine (née Donnelly), was a bank clerk and nurse's aid, and his father, Donald Edward Wahlberg, was a Teamster who worked as a delivery driver; the two divorced in 1982.

Education

Mark Wahlberg attended Copley Square High School (but never graduated) on Newbury Street in Boston. At 14, Wahlberg dropped out of school and began making his living on the streets - hustling, stealing, and selling drugs.

As a young teenager, Wahlberg described himself as a troubled child who often participated in acts of violence and vandalism. He later claimed to have been in trouble 20-25 times with the Boston Police Department as a youth. By the age of thirteen Wahlberg had developed a serious addiction to cocaine and other substances. At fifteen he harassed a group of African American school children on a field trip by throwing rocks (causing injuries) and shouting epithets. When he was sixteen (again using racist language) after robbing a pharmacy under the influence of Phencyclidine, Wahlberg knocked a middle-aged Vietnamese man unconscious, left another Vietnamese man permanently blinded in one eye, and attacked a security guard. Wahlberg has said that he has no recollection of the incident because he passed out just before the police caught him. For these crimes, Wahlberg was charged for attempted murder, pled guilty to assault, and 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, a 21-year-old Wahlberg fractured the jaw of a neighbor in an unprovoked attack.

After prison, he decided to improve his behavior. Of this, he has said, "As soon as I began that life of crime, there was always a voice in my head telling me I was going to end up in jail. Three of my brothers had done time. My sister went to prison so many times I lost count. Finally, I was there, locked up with the kind of guys I'd always wanted to be like. Now I'd earned my stripes and I was just like them, and I realized it wasn't what I wanted at all. I'd ended up in the worst place I could possibly imagine and I never wanted to go back. First of all, I had to learn to stay on the straight and narrow."

Commenting in 2006 on his past crimes, Wahlberg has stated: "I did a lot of things that I regret, and I have certainly paid for my mistakes." He said the right thing to do would be to try to find the blinded man and make amends, and admitted he has not done so, but added that he was no longer burdened by guilt: "You have to go and ask for forgiveness and it wasn't until I really started doing good and doing right by other people, as well as myself, that I really started to feel that guilt go away. So I don't have a problem going to sleep at night. I feel good when I wake up in the morning."

On 26 November 2014, Wahlberg filed an application in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts requesting a full and unconditional pardon from his prior convictions. His pardon application engendered some controversy. According to the BBC, the debate about his suitability for a pardon is still ongoing with the arguments on both sides being far-reaching and complex. One of Wahlberg's victims, Trinh, has pledged to make a written statement supporting a pardon.

In September 2016, Wahlberg said that he regretted his attempt to obtain a pardon, and his petition was closed after he failed to answer a request from the pardon board as to whether he wanted it to remain open.

He received his high school diploma in June 2013.

Career

By the time Wahlberg had emerged from prison, his older brother Donnie had rocketed to stardom as one of five fresh-faced members of the pop band New Kids on the Block. Donnie decided to help his younger brother find his own niche in the music business. What Wahlberg lacked in singing ability, he made up for in charisma and good looks - with Donnie's hip-hop arrangements and producing help, Marky Mark (his rap name) and his back-up deejay and dancers (dubbed "the Funky Bunch") recorded a debut album, Music for the People (1991). Driven by the success of the hit dance singles "Good Vibrations" and "Wildside" (and by Marky Mark's readiness to discard his shirt and drop his pants on stage and in his videos), the album went platinum, selling over a million copies.

One of pop music's hottest new commodities, Wahlberg (and his rock-hard physique) became even more ubiquitous when he signed a two-year contract with the designer Calvin Klein to model underwear. Magazine and television promotions would sometimes feature Mark exclusively or accompanied by model Kate Moss. Annie Leibovitz also shot a famous session of Mark Wahlberg in underwear for Vanity Fair's annual Hall of Fame issue. He also made a workout video titled The Marky Mark Workout: Form... Focus... Fitness. In 2012, he launched a line of sports nutrition supplements called "Marked."

His raucous public persona, he once became involved in a much-talked-about brawl with Madonna and her entourage at a Los Angeles nightclub only served to increase his popular appeal, until news began surfacing about his criminal past and his possibly racist and homophobic tendencies.

In 1993, this part of Wahlberg's personal life was seriously questioned when he was accused of condoning blatantly homophobic remarks made on a British talk show by his fellow guest, the reggae singer Shabba Ranks. Combined with the disappointing sales of the Funky Bunch's second album, You Gotta Believe (1992), the public criticism of Wahlberg's career seemed to be steering his career towards certain death. The 22-year-old's survival instincts kicked in, however, and he soon made a move into another realm of the entertainment world - acting.

After appearing in a 1993 television movie, The Substitute, Wahlberg made his big-screen debut in Penny Marshall's lightweight Renaissance Man (1994), in which he played one of a group of Army recruits taught by an ex-advertising salesman, played by Danny DeVito. His innate brand of screen presence led to his casting in his breakthrough role, that of the drug-addled best friend of Leonardo DiCaprio's character in The Basketball Diaries (1995), a small-scale but acclaimed film based on poet-musician Jim Carroll's dark autobiography of his own adolescent struggles with heroin addiction.

After two more attention-getting performances in Fear (1996) and Traveller (1997), Wahlberg cemented his artistic and commercial reputation (and left "Marky Mark" far behind) with a starring role as dishwasher turned porn star Eddie Adams (aka Dirk Diggler) in writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson's buzzworthy Boogie Nights (1997), co-starring Burt Reynolds. Though his next two films - The Big Hit (1998) and The Corruptor (1999), costarring Chinese action superstar Chow Yun-Fat - were less than successful, Wahlberg returned with a bang in the acclaimed Three Kings (1999). The film costarred Wahlberg, George Clooney, Ice Cube and Spike Jonze as renegade U.S. servicemen in the Persian Gulf during the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War conflict.

In 2000, Wahlberg reteamed with Clooney (and Diane Lane) in The Perfect Storm, Wolfgang Petersen's highly-touted film version of Sebastian Junger's bestselling account of a boat full of sword fishermen caught in a killer storm in the North Atlantic. In late 2000, Wahlberg co-starred with Joaquin Phoenix and James Caan in the little-seen crime drama The Yards. The following year, he starred as a heavy metal rock musician in Rock Star, co-starring Jennifer Aniston, and in the title role in a remake of the classic Planet of the Apes, co-starring Charlton Heston, and Helena Bonham Carter.

In 2003, Wahlberg co-starred with Charlize Theron in the heist thriller The Italian Job. Other projects included joining Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law and Dustin Hoffman for an existential comedy titled I Heart Huckabees. He also signed on for The Jacket in which he stars as a falsely imprisoned man with psychic visions but left the production (letting Adrien Brody take over the role).

His next great film was the 2006 Martin Scorsese The Departed, a remake of the Hong Kong crime classic Infernal Affairs that was arguably as good as the original (a rare feat for American cinema). Wahlberg received his first Academy Award nomination for this film and has since stated this is the role he is most proud of.

He starred in M Night Shyamalan's The Happening and We Own the Night in 2008. Next, he appeared in Peter Jackson's much-anticipated book adaptation The Lovely Bones in 2009, and in 2010 appeared with Steve Carrell and Tina Fey in the rom-com thriller Date Night. He also played one of the main roles in The Other Guys with Will Ferrell.

In 2010 he also produced and appeared in the hit The Fighter, which was highly appreciated by critics.

Wahlberg has continued to thrive as an actor. In 2012, he starred in the hit Seth MacFarlane comedy Ted. Wahlberg then returned to challenging dramatic fare with the real-life military drama Lone Survivor (2013). Still a popular choice for action films, Wahlberg starred in the latest installment of Transformers series, Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014). He rejoined Seth MacFarlane for the sequel Ted 2 in 2015.

Working behind the scenes, Wahlberg has also enjoyed success as a producer. He has served as an executive producer on such television shows like Entourage, In Treatment and Boardwalk Empire. In 2014, Wahlberg launched another small-screen project. He began appearing as himself, along with brothers Donnie and Paul, on Wahlburgers.

In addition, Wahlberg produced both films and television shows, notably the cult hit HBO series Entourage (2004-2011), a comedy loosely based on his own experiences in Hollywood, and the acclaimed morality tale Boardwalk Empire (2010-2014). He served as executive producer for both, and the former series was adapted for the big screen in 2015. He also appeared as himself in Wahlburgers (2014-2019), a reality TV series centred on the hamburger restaurant business of Wahlberg’s brother Paul, and he was executive producer for that series.

Achievements

• 

  Wahlberg earned incredible fame as an actor, model, and singer. He is also active with The Good Shepherd Center for Homeless Women and Children. He served on the Honorary Board of Jerry Sandusky's The Second Mile children's charity.
  
  He was the lead singer of the band “Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch”. With his band, he released his first album on July 23, 1991, titled Music for the People. It got certified as Platinum in the United States and Canada and topped the chart of US Heatseekers.
  
  Wahlberg received the honor of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 25 July 2010. He also produced and appeared in the hit The Fighter for which Christian Bale and Melissa Leo won supporting actor Oscars, while Wahlberg was nominated for the best motion picture of the year.
  
  He is a former Calvin Klein Underwear model and appeared in its commercial in 1993.
  
  In 2011, he was announced as the face of Men’s brand PRVCY.
  
  Wahlberg is the highest-paid actor of 2017 as of August, earning $68 million.

Works

More photos

• moive

  • The Happening

    (Mark Wahlberg stars as a man who takes his family on the ...)

    2008
  • Rock Star

    (Mark Wahlberg stars as a copier repairman who moonlights ...)

    2001

• movie

  • The Other Guys

    (From the director of Step Brothers and Talladega Nights c...)

    2010
  • I Heart Huckabees

    (A frustrated young environmentalist who is being exploite...)

    2004
  • We Own The Night

    (What if your own family stood in the way of everything yo...)

    2007
  • Mile 22

    (American intelligence officer James Silva (Mark Wahlberg)...)

    2019
  • Shooter

    (Determined to prove his innocence in a double-cross, Bob ...)

    2007
  • 2 Guns

    (Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg lead an all-star cast...)

    2013
  • Ted

    ("One of the funniest movies of all time!" from Family Guy...)

    2012
  • Boogie Nights

    (Set in 1977, back when sex was safe, pleasure was a busin...)

    1997
  • The Basketball Diaries

    (Based on the autobiographical journals of poet Jim Carrol...)

    1995
  • Patriot's Day

    (Mark Wahlberg shines in this all-star action-thriller tha...)

    2016
  • Traveller

    (A young man, Pat, visits the clan of gypsy-like grifters ...)

    1997
  • The Departed

    (Martin Scorsese's crime drama "The Departed" is set in So...)

    2006
  • Planet Of The Apes

    (The sudden appearance of one man in a world where apes ar...)

    2001
  • Ted 2

    (Our favorite foulmouthed teddy bear is back with more hil...)

    2015
  • Fear

    (Mark Wahlberg, Reese Witherspoon and Alyssa Milano star i...)

    1996
  • The Fighter

    (Mark Wahlberg stars in Paramount Pictures' inspirational ...)

    2010
  • Transformers: Age of Extinction

    (From director Michael Bay comes the best 'Transformers' e...)

    2014
  • The Lovely Bones

    (Based on the best selling book by Alice Sebold, The Lovel...)

    2009
  • Deepwater Horizon

    (Directed by Peter Berg (Lone Survivor), this story honors...)

    2016
  • The Truth About Charlie

    (Oscar-winner Jonathan Demme directs Mark Wahlberg, Thandi...)

    2002
  • Date Night

    (A typical suburban couple's date night becomes much more ...)

    2010
  • Broken City

    (Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe and Catherine Zeta Jones sta...)

    2013
  • Max Payne

    (Max Payne is a maverick cop - a mythic anti-hero - determ...)

    2009
  • All The Money In The World

    (After the kidnapping of John Paul Getty III, in a race ag...)

    2017
  • Pain & Gain

    (When a group of personal trainers decide to steal the Ame...)

    2013
  • The Corruptor

    (Police thriller about a rookie (Mark Wahlberg) partnered ...)

    1999
  • The Yards

    (Hot stars Mark Wahlberg (The Fighter), Joaquin Phoenix (I...)

    2000
  • Transformers: The Last Knight

    (Our world's greatest hero becomes our fiercest enemy when...)

    2017
  • Instant Family

    (Pete (Mark Wahlberg) and Ellie (Rose Byrne) must learn th...)

    2018
  • The Big Hit

    (A quartet of hitmen is drawn into a moonlighting gig that...)

    1998
  • Daddy's Home 2

    (When it comes to raising their kids, Dusty (Mark Wahlberg...)

    2017
  • Lone Survivor

    (Mark Wahlberg stars in the incredible true story of four ...)

    2013
  • Overnight

    (The acclaimed documentary chronicling the rise, and fall,...)

    2003
  • Three Kings

    (George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube conspire to steal...)

    1999
  • Entourage

    (Vincent Chase, together with his boys, Eric, Turtle, and ...)

    2015
  • Mojave

    (An electrifying cat-and-mouse thriller in which an evil d...)

    2015
  • The Gambler

    (Jim Bennett (Mark Wahlberg) is a professor leading a doub...)

    2014
  • The Perfect Storm

    (Billy Tyne insists that his crew go out on 1 last fishing...)

    2000
  • Contraband

    (A reformed smuggler (Mark Wahlberg) must pull off one las...)

    2011
  • Invincible

    (Based on a true story about Vince Papale, a Philadelphia ...)

    2006
  • Four Brothers

    (Four adopted brothers come together to bury the woman who...)

    2005
  • Renaissance Man

    (A teacher has to keep a bunch of ragtag from flunking bas...)

    1994
  • Daddy's Home

    (Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg face off in the ultimate D...)

    2015
  • The Italian Job

    (The plan was flawless. The execution was perfect. Charlie...)

    2003

• TV series

  • Wahlburgers

    (The American dream is alive and well in Boston, Massachus...)

    2019

Religion

Wahlberg is a committed Roman Catholic.

In a recent interview with Parade Magazine, Wahlberg opened up about the importance of his Irish Catholic background. "It’s the most important part of my life," he explained. "I don’t try to push it on anybody and I don’t try to hide it."

The proud Bostonian tries to attend church twice every Sunday. For Wahlberg's wife, Rhea Durham, and their four kids, Sundays often revolve around the church schedule. "If the kids are good, I’ll have doughnuts for them at 6:30 in the morning, and I’ll say, 'You guys gotta let Mommy sleep in!' I’ll go to church at 7:30 and everybody will be eating breakfast when I come home. Then we’ll go to church again at 10:30, if things aren’t too hectic. Or if one of the kids has a game we’ll watch them play. It’s a nice family day," the actor told Parade.

However, for Wahlberg, faith is more personal than just a weekly family tradition. In a 2010 interview with the Catholic Herald, the "Lone Survivor" star credited losing faith for his darkest times and finding it for his brightest. "Once I focused on my faith wonderful things started happening for me," he recalled.

Politics

Wahlberg knows what it’s like to be the underdog - as a young hoodlum on the streets of Boston and as a human in a world governed by apes, where humans were second-class citizens at best. This experience has colored Wahlberg’s political views:

''My politics are about kids who grew up in places like me. I am concerned with the environment, but I’m a lot more concerned about the environment in the inner city that doesn’t have any trees or marshes to save.''

But at the end of the day, Wahlberg is a Democrat, having donated all of his campaign contribution money so far to Democratic presidential candidates, including Obama in 2008. He seems to be a supporter of Obama’s 2012 campaign as well.

Views

Mark Wahlberg involved in charity work. He is known as a supporter of numerous charities and foundations. He is interested in charity of all kinds, on such topics as abuse, adoption, fostering, orphans, AIDS & HIV, animals, at-risk/disadvantaged youths, cancer, children, creative arts, disaster relief, economic/business support, education, emergency services, environment, family/parent support, health, human rights, hunger, senior citizen support, and sports.

Wahlberg supports same-sex marriage despite the views of the Catholic Church.

Quotations: ''I pray to be a good servant to God, a father, a husband, a son, a friend, a brother, an uncle, a good neighbor, a good leader to those who look up to me, a good follower to those who are serving God and doing the right thing.''

''I did a lot of things that I regretted and I certainly paid for my mistakes. You have to go and ask for forgiveness and it wasn't until I really started doing good and doing right, by other people as well as myself, that I really started to feel that guilt go away. So I don't have a problem going to sleep at night.''

''I've always wanted to do right in life. But the wanting and the doing aren't quite the same thing.''

''Having two daughters changed my perspective on a lot of things, and I definitely have a newfound respect for women. And I think I finally became a good and real man when I had a daughter.''

''For me, family always comes first; I would do anything to protect them.''

''I never lie. I believe everything I say, so it's not a lie.''

''I like to talk to people. I've got one assistant, one Blackberry. That's my overhead. I don't text that much or email. I like to sit down face-to-face and have a conversation with you. I'm old-fashioned.''

''Producing suits me because I have a business mind and a business sensibility. I was a street hustler. I did whatever it took. I sold whatever I could sell. I'm a good organiser.''

''I have more money now than I know what to do with.''

''I want people to come see my films and enjoy them but at the end of the day you can't control what people think.''

Membership

Mark Wahlberg is a member of A Place Called Home, Elevate Hope Foundation, Felix Organization, LIVESTRONG, Los Angeles Police Memorial Foundation, Red Cross, Saban Community Clinic, St. Francis Food Pantries and Shelters, The Art of Elysium, The Gentle Barn, The Gentlemen's Fund, The Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation, Tony Hawk Foundation, Tunnel to Towers and others.

• 

  member/supporter

  Place Called Home , United States

• 

  member/supporter

  Elevate Hope Foundation , United States

• 

  member/supporter

  Felix Organization , United States

• 

  member/supporter

  LIVESTRONG , United States

• member/supporter

  Los Angeles Police Memorial Foundation , United States

• 

  member/supporter

  Red Cross , United States

• 

  member/supporter

  Saban Community Clinic , United States

• St. Francis Food Pantries and Shelters,member/supporter , USA

• Tony Hawk Foundation,member/supporter , USA

• 

  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.

  Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation,founder , United States

  2001 - present

• member/supporter

  The Gentlemen's Fund , United States

• 

  member/supporter

  Gentle Barn , United States

Personality

Mark Wahlberg considers The Truth About Charlie (2002) his worst film.

He and some friends were actually booked to fly on one of the planes that crashed into the twin towers on September 11, 2001. Originally planning on flying from Boston to Los Angeles but at the last minute, they decided to charter a plane to Toronto, Canada for a film festival and then from there to Los Angeles. A near brush with death that he still dreams about today. "We certainly would have tried to do something to fight. I've had probably over 50 dreams about it."

Physical Characteristics: Build: Athletic

Height: 5 ft 8 in or 173 cm

Weight: 78 kg or 172 pounds

Hair Color: Dark Brown

Eye Color: Hazel

In May 1992 Mark Wahlberg was named one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in the World.

Has 4 tattoos on his body - on the upper left arm, upper right arm, ankle, and around the neck. One of these is a tattoo of Bob Marley on his left shoulder. He is in the process of removing his four tattoos.

He has stated that he struggled with weight gain his whole life.

He was born with a third nipple.

Quotes from others about the person

• ''To me, he’s a real Spencer Tracy. He is a guy who has this amazing Everyman quality, which a lot of movie stars do, I guess. But he, in particular, has this very approachable demeanor. He is a man of few words and the words count. But he kind of wanted to come into this playing someone very different from him. This is a very verbose character. He uses words as his weapons.” - Rupert Wyatt
  
  "I met Mark and thought he had a certain gravity to him, a kind of Steve McQueen simplicity where you don’t have to say much. I’ve always been fascinated by that type of acting where it’s minimal.” - Tim Burton
  
  ''I’ve never seen Mark try to sell himself, try to convince anybody that he’s tough or that he’s smart. There’s just an eerie calm. You know about his past and about the potential for physical violence, and all that energy has been sublimated into the focus on being an actor. There’s a certain unbridled volcano that lurks behind those eyes.'' - James Foley
  
  "Life for him right now is a big party, in terms of being happy with who you are." - Stephen Herek

Interests

• video gamess, business

• Politicians

  Barack Obama

• Sport & Clubs

  football, hockey, Montreal Canadiens, golf, boxing, cricket, Barbados Tridents, the Bruins, Celtics, Red Sox, Patriots

• Athletes

  Tom Brady, Max Domi, Tie Domi, Micky Ward, Manny Pacquiao. Floyd Mayweather, Marvin Hagler, Rocky Marciano,Mike Tyson

• Music & Bands

  DJ Khaled, Diddy, Bob Marley

Connections

Wahlberg married Rhea Durham in 2009. They have four children together: Ella Rae (born 2003), Michael (born 2006), Brendan Joseph (born 2008) and Grace Margaret (born 2010).

Father:

Donald Edward Wahlberg

Died in February 14, 2008 (age 77).

Mother:

Alma Elaine

(née Donnelly)

Brother:

Donnie Wahlberg

Brother:

Robert Wahlberg

sister-in-law:

Jennifer McCarthy

Brother:

Jim Wahlberg

Brother:

Arthur Wahlberg

Brother:

Paul Wahlberg

Sister:

Tracey Wahlberg

Brother:

Michelle Wahlberg

Sister:

Debbie Wahlberg

Died in 2003 at age 43.

Wife:

Rhea Durham

Daughter:

Ella Rae

Daughter:

Grace Margaret

Son:

Michael

Son:

Brendan Joseph

Acquaintance:

Annie Leibovitz

colleague:

Danny DeVito

Friend:

Leonardo DiCaprio

colleague:

Joaquin Phoenix

colleague:

Jennifer Aniston

colleague:

Helena Bonham Carter

References

• Mark Wahlberg - Twitter
• Mark Wahlberg - Instagram photos and videos
• Mark Wahlberg - Facebook