Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg is an American actor, rapper and producer of film and television.
The youngest of nine children, with siblings Arthur, Jim, Paul, Robert, Tracey, Michelle, Debbie, and Donnie. He is of Swedish, Irish, and French Canadian ancestry. His mother, Alma Elaine, was a bank clerk and nurse's aide, and his father, Donald Edward Wahlberg, was a Teamster who worked as a delivery driver. His parents divorced in 1982. Wahlberg had a Catholic upbringing and attended Copley Square High School 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.
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. 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. The video depicted Mark boxing, lifting weights, posing shirtless, and showing off his muscular build.
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.
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.
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 four children together, daughters Ella Rae (born in September 2003) and Grace Margaret (born in January 2010), and sons Michael (born in March 2006) and Brendan Joseph (born in September 2008).