Born in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston,
Massachusetts, he is the youngest of nine children, with siblings Arthur, Jim, Paul, Robert, Tracey,
Michelle, Debbie, and Donnie Wahlberg. His mother, Alma
Elaine (née McPeck), was a bank clerk and nurse's aide,
and his father, Donald Edward Wahlberg, was a Teamster
who worked as a delivery driver; the two 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 participated in several 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 PCP, Wahlberg knocked a middle
aged Vietnamese man unconscious, left another Vietnamese
man permanently blinded in one eye, and attacked a
security guard. 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, the
21-year-old Wahlberg fractured the jaw of a neighbor in
an unprovoked attack.
Wahlberg first came 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 and squeaky-clean image, 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, earning 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
showing off his bare, well-muscled torso. The second
single, "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, was a relative failure,
yielding only a minor hit single in the title track.
Wahlberg later collaborated with reggae / ragga singer
Prince Ital Joe. The project combined rap and ragga vocals
with strong eurodance music (as in the singles Happy People,
United, Life in the Streets, and Babylon) courtesy of Frank
Peterson and Alex Christensen as producers.
He briefly became embroiled in controversy when he appeared
to endorse the homophobic comments made by Shabba Ranks when
they appeared as guests on the British chat show The Word.
When Ranks made the statement that "gays ought to be
crucified", Wahlberg remained in silence at his comments,
which made the public believe he agreed with them. He later
publicly dissociated himself from Ranks' comments, but only
after widespread media coverage.
Mark's cocky, street-wise persona contributed to his fame.
During concert performances, he was known for stripping to a
pair of white briefs, gyrating his hips and rubbing his
crotch. 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".
Wahlberg
was 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 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.[16]
He also made a workout video entitled The Marky Mark
Workout: Form... Focus... Fitness. Although Wahlberg made
several sexual references in the video, it was passed as
exempt from classification because he was able to disguise
them with hip hop slang. Notably, he says to a female
participant before doing an exercise, "If I get diesel
(muscular), maybe I'll get some skins" (a reference to or of
the labia). He also says "I can't get no coochie (a
reference to a woman's vagina) without no Gucci", which was
a phrase that Mark heard from a toilet attendant during his
visit to London.
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 has 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 Heart 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 instead. 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 recently starred in the American football drama,
Invincible, based on the true story of bartender 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, which netted him
an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, a
Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in
a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture, and an NSFC Best
Supporting Actor award.
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 the
Staff Sergeant played by Wahlberg.
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 is now to star 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.
Wahlberg will play the drug kingpin Jon Roberts in the
remake of the 2006 documentary Cocaine Cowboys, which
chronicles the story of the largest cocaine trafficker in
Miami in the 1970s and 1980s, and he has persuaded Leonardo
DiCaprio to play the supporting role. He also will appear in
the title role of the upcoming movie Max Payne, based on a
video game of the same name.
He starred in M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening as Eliot
Moore, which premiered in movie theatres on June 13, 2008.
Wahlberg
is a practicing Roman Catholic and credits his faith and a
priest from his childhood for helping him turn his life
around and recognize the seriousness of his faith. He dated
actresses Jordana Brewster and China Chow, his co-star in
the film The Big Hit. Wahlberg and model Rhea Durham have
been together since 2001, and have three children, Ella Rae
(born September 2, 2003), Michael (born March 22, 2006) and
Brendan Joseph (born September 16, 2008). Though no formal
announcement has been made, Wahlberg and Durham are rumored
to have wedding plans for the summer of 2009. He has been
heard in interviews and at The Happening premier calling her
his future wife and fiance.
It was revealed on his E! True Hollywood Story that Wahlberg
dated actress Reese Witherspoon during and after the making
of their 1996 film Fear. He has also been spotted with
Rebecca Scheffer on double dates with his brother Arthur and
Patty Allred.
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 five tattoos done by various artists including
Paul Timman. 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.
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, Donald E. Wahlberg, a US Army veteran of the
Korean War, died on Valentine's Day, February 14, 2008.
|
