I loved Marky Mark. I was a bit old when he started his act, but that did not stop me from being a fan. In fact, I still have the Marky Mark book he put out in the early Ninties. Of course, many made fun of him for dropping his shorts as he did, but it got him on a billboard in Times Square, so you tell me who the joke is on.
When I first saw him in “Renaissance Man,” I was glad to see he had turned to acting. It seemed a natural progression, but he was not without his critics. The “Marky Mark” image he had built for himself followed him into acting and is only just now fading.
Believe it or not, Mark is now 35 and the father of two, three year old Ella Rae and six month old Michael. He credits the babies with helping him grow up and realize what is important in life. That was not always so easy for Mark. One of nine children, he turned to drugs and crime after his parents divorce. But, after serving 45 days in jail for a serious crime in which a Vietnamese man lost his eye, he was able to turn his life around with the help of his parish priest, Father Flavin. This episode led Mark to turn to music rather than drugs.
Mark is currently starring in The Departed, holding his own against Jack Nicholson and Martin Sheen as well as contemporaries Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio. In August, he was the star of the footfall film Invincible. Along the way, he’s garnered praise for his roles in Boogie Nights, Three Kings, The Perfect Storm, The Italian Job, and I Heart Huckabees. Upcoming films include We Own the Night with Joaquin Phoenix and Robert Duvall, Shooter, and the sequel to The Italian Job, The Brazilian Job.
Thankful for his salvation from the streets, Mark established the Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation, which built a gym for St. William’s parish and a teen center for the Boy’s Club in Boston.