Mark Wahlberg

Mark Wahlberg has been married to model Rhea Durham since 2009. They have four children: Ella, Michael, Brendan, and Grace Margaret.

Wahlberg is Catholic and has described faith and prayer as important parts of his life. He established the Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation in 2001 to raise and distribute funds for youth service and enrichment programs, and he has supported The Good Shepherd Center for Homeless Women and Children.

Wahlberg was born in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood and grew up as the youngest of nine children in a working-class family. His parents, Alma Elaine and Donald Edmond Wahlberg Sr., divorced when he was a child. His brothers include singer and actor Donnie Wahlberg, actor Robert Wahlberg, and chef Paul Wahlberg.

He left high school at 14 and became involved in juvenile delinquency, drug use, theft, and violence. At 16, he was convicted of felony assault and served 45 days in jail. He later described the experience as a turning point that encouraged him to change his life and focus on bodybuilding.

Wahlberg entered entertainment through music, using the stage name Marky Mark. With dancers and rappers known as the Funky Bunch, and with production assistance from his brother Donnie, he released Music for the People in 1991. The album produced the hit singles "Good Vibrations" and "Wildside," with "Good Vibrations" reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and the album eventually earning platinum certification.

His public profile expanded through Calvin Klein underwear advertisements, but criticism of his earlier conduct and public controversies contributed to his decision to leave the Marky Mark persona behind. He subsequently pursued acting under his birth name. He also released the album You Gotta Believe with the Funky Bunch and recorded music with Prince Ital Joe.

Wahlberg's early screen appearances included the television film The Substitute and the feature film Renaissance Man (1994). He gained critical notice in The Basketball Diaries (1995) and Fear (1996), then established himself with his lead performance as Eddie Adams, also known as Dirk Diggler, in Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights (1997).

He went on to appear in films across comedy, drama, and action, including Three Kings, The Perfect Storm, Planet of the Apes, The Italian Job, The Fighter, Ted, Lone Survivor, Deepwater Horizon, Daddy's Home, and Instant Family. In The Departed (2006), directed by Martin Scorsese, he played Massachusetts State Police staff sergeant Sean Dignam and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Wahlberg also starred as Micky Ward in The Fighter (2010), as John Bennett in Ted and Ted 2, as Cade Yeager in Transformers: Age of Extinction and Transformers: The Last Knight, and as Victor Sullivan in Uncharted. His later credits include Spenser Confidential, Joe Bell, Infinite, Father Stu, Arthur the King, The Family Plan, The Union, and Flight Risk.

Wahlberg served as an executive producer of the HBO series Entourage, a comedy loosely based on his experiences in Hollywood. He also produced Boardwalk Empire, How to Make It in America, Ballers, In Treatment, and the documentary series McMillions.

He appeared with Donnie and Paul Wahlberg in the reality series Wahlburgers, which focused on the brothers' restaurant business. Mark, Donnie, and Paul are co-owners of the Wahlburgers chain. Wahlberg also co-founded the sports nutrition company Performance Inspired with Tom Dowd and became involved with the F45 fitness franchise.

As a teenager, Wahlberg took part in racially motivated attacks in Boston. In 1988, he assaulted two Vietnamese-American men and pleaded guilty to felony assault. He also faced civil action related to earlier harassment of Black children and later settled a lawsuit concerning a 1992 assault on his neighbor Robert Crehan.

Wahlberg applied for a pardon for his 1988 convictions in 2014, but later said he regretted making the request and the petition was closed. In 2016, he said he had met Johnny Trinh, one of the men involved in the 1988 incident, apologized, and received Trinh's forgiveness.