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Mark Wahlberg

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Biography

Before he started acting, Mark Wahlberg was best known as Marky Mark, the pants-dropping rapper who attained fame and notoriety with his group the Funky Bunch. In the tradition of Will Smith and Ice Cube, Wahlberg has made a successful transition from music to film, garnering particular praise for his role in Boogie Nights.

Born June 5, 1971, in Dorchester, MA, Wahlberg had a troubled early life. One of nine children, he dropped out of school at 16 (he would later earn his GED) and committed a number of minor felonies. After working various odd jobs, Wahlberg briefly joined brother Donnie and his group New Kids on the Block before forming his own, Marky Mark & the Funky Bunch. The group had widespread popularity for a time, most notably with its 1992 hit single "Good Vibrations." However, it was Wahlberg himself who received the lion's share of attention, whether it was for the homophobia controversy that surrounded him for a time, or for the 1992 Calvin Klein ad campaign featuring him wearing nothing more than his underwear, Kate Moss, and an attitude.

In 1993, Wahlberg turned his attentions to acting with a role in The Substitute. The film, co-starring a then-unknown Natasha Gregson Wagner, was a critical and commercial failure, but Wahlberg's next project, 1994's Renaissance Man with Danny De Vito, gave him the positive notices that would increase with the release of his next film, The Basketball Diaries (1995). Although the film received mixed reviews, many critics praised Wahlberg's performance as Mickey, Leonardo Di Caprio's friend and fellow junkie. Following Diaries, Wahlberg appeared in Fear (1996) in the role of Reese Witherspoon's psychotic boyfriend.

It was with the release of Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights in 1997 that Wahlberg finally received across-the-board respect for his commanding yet unassuming performance as busboy-turned-porn star Eddie Adams/Dirk Diggler. The film was nominated for three Oscars and a slew of other awards by associations ranging from the British Academy to the New York Film Critics Circle to MTV. The positive attention landed Wahlberg on a wide range of magazine covers and gave him greater Hollywood pulling power. He had, as they say, arrived.

Wahlberg's follow-up to Boogie Nights was 1998's The Big Hit, an action comedy that, particularly in the wake of Boogie Night's acclaim, proved to be a disappointment. This disappointment was hardly lessened by the relative critical and commercial shortcomings of Wahlberg's next film, The Corruptor (1999). An action flick that co-starred Chow Yun-Fat, The Corruptor showcased Wahlberg's familiar macho side and indicated that success in Hollywood is a strange and unpredictable thing. Though he gained positive notice for his role in David O. Russell' s unconventional war film Three Kings the same year, the film was only a moderate success, paving the way for an even more dramatic turn in the downbeat true story of the ill-fated Andrea Gail, The Perfect Storm, in 2000.

The following year found Wahlberg filling some big shoes -- and receiving some hefty criticism as a result -- with his lead role in Tim Burton's much-anticipated remake of Planet of the Apes. Taking over the role that Charlton Heston made famous, Wahlberg found himself pursued onscreen by sinister simians, as well as offscreen by critics who decried the lack of depth that the actor brought to the role. Late that summer, Wahlberg came back down to earth -- specifically to the everyday-Joe-rises-to-fame territory of Boogie Nights -- with Rock Star, the story of a tribute-band singer who gets a chance to sing for the band he idolizes. ~ Rebecca Flint, All Movie Guide

Filmography

Italian Job, The (2003) .... Charlie Croker
Truth About Charlie, The (2002) .... Joshua Peters
Starbuck Holger Meins (2002) .... Himself
America: A Tribute to Heroes (2001) (TV) .... Himself
Rock Star (2001) .... Chris 'Izzy' Cole
Planet of the Apes (2001) .... Captain Leo Davidson
28th Annual American Music Awards (2001) (TV) .... Himself
MTV Video Music Awards 2000 (2000) (TV) .... Himself
VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards (2000) (TV) .... Himself
2000 MTV Movie Awards (2000) (TV) .... Presenter
Perfect Storm, The (2000) .... Bobby Shatford
Yards, The (2000) .... Leo Handler
Three Kings (1999) .... Sfc. Troy Barlow
Corruptor, The (1999) .... Danny Wallace
Big Hit, The (1998) .... Melvin Smiley
... aka Warheads (1998) (Asia: English title)
1997 VH1 Fashion Awards (1997) (TV)
Boogie Nights (1997) .... Eddie Adams/Dirk Diggler
Traveller (1997) .... Pat O'Hara
Fear (1996) .... David McCall
... aka No Fear (1996/II)
... aka Obsession mortelle (1996)
Basketball Diaries, The (1995) .... Mickey
Renaissance Man (1994) .... Pvt. Tommy Lee Haywood
... aka Army Intelligence (1994)
... aka By the Book (1994)
Form... Focus... Fitness, the Marky Mark Workout (1993) (V) .... Himself
... aka Marky Mark Workout, The (1993) (V) (USA: short title)
Substitute, The (1993) (TV) (as Marky Mark) .... Ryan Westerberg
MTV Video Music Awards 1992 (1992) (TV) (as Marky Mark) .... Himself (presenter)
Teen Vid II (1991) (V) .... Himself
Idols (1991) (TV) (as Marky Mark) ....

Links

Contact

c/o United Talent Agency
9560 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 500
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
USA