Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts on June 5, 1971. He is the youngest of nine children, with siblings Arthur, Jim, Paul, Robert, Tracey, Michelle, Debbie, and Donnie Wahlberg. His father, Donald Edward Wahlberg, was a delivery driver, and his mother, Alma Elaine Donnelly, was a nurse; the two divorced in 1982. His paternal grandfather was of Swedish descent, while the majority of his other ancestry is Irish. Wahlberg had a Catholic upbringing and attended Copley Square High School (but never graduated) on Newbury Street in Boston.

As a teenager, Wahlberg participated in several acts of violence for which he was charged, later claiming to have been in trouble 20-25 times with the Boston Police Department as a youth. When he was 16, while under the influence of cocaine and alcohol (again using racist language) he knocked a middle aged Vietnamese man unconscious with a wooden stick and left another Vietnamese man permanently blind in one eye. In an interview for Inside the Actor's Studio, he admitted that he has no recollections of the incident, because he passed out just before the police caught him. For these crimes Wahlberg was charged for attempted murder, pled guilty to assault, and spent 45 days in jail at Boston's Deer Island House of Correction. In yet another incident when he was 21 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 boy band New Kids on the Block.

Ironically, he had been chosen along with Donnie, Danny Wood, Jordan Knight, and Jonathan Knight as the original members of the group, but he chose to quit upon disliking the bubblegum pop squeaky-clean image they were to use. It was his departure, as well as Jamie Kelly's, that 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. Marky Mark opened for the New Kids during their last tour. The second Marky Mark LP, You Gotta Believe, was a relative failure.

During this time, Wahlberg was also 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. During concert performances, he was known for stripping to his briefs and grabbing his crotch. He also made a workout video entitled The Marky Mark Workout: Form... Focus... Fitness. Afterwards he had a few hits in the European dance scene with Prince Ital Joe, which abruptly ended when the latter died in a car accident.

Wahlberg then began an acting career, making his debut in the 1993 TV movie The Substitute. He has earned positive reviews and appeared in a number of successful movies like Boogie Nights as Dirk Diggler, Three Kings, The Perfect Storm, Four Brothers, and The Italian Job. His performance in I Heart Huckabees was voted best supporting performance of the year in the 2004 Village Voice Critics Poll.

Wahlberg recently starred in the football drama, Invincible, based on the true story of 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 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, an NSFC Best Supporting Actor award. He's also the producer of the award winning hit show "Entourage" which is loosely based on his own life as a young Hollywood actor.

Wahlberg and longtime girlfriend actress/model Rhea Durham have two children together. The couple’s first child, a daughter named Ella Rae, was born on September 2, 2003. Their son, Michael, joined the family on March 22, 2006.

Info compiled from Wikipedia

The Brazilian Job (2009)  .... Charlie Croker
The Fighter (2009)  .... Mickey Ward
The Happening (2008)  .... Elliot Moore
We Own the Night (2007) .... Joseph Grusinsky
Shooter (2007) .... Bob Lee Swagger
The Departed (2006) .... Dignam
Invincible (2006) .... Vince Papale
Four Brothers (2005) .... Bobby Mercer
I Heart Huckabees (2004) .... Tommy Corn
The Italian Job (2003) .... Charlie Croker
The Truth About Charlie (2002) .... Joshua Peters
Rock Star (2001) .... Chris 'Izzy' Cole
Planet of the Apes (2001) .... Captain Leo Davidson
The Perfect Storm (2000) .... Bobby Shatford
The Yards (2000) .... Leo Handler
Three Kings (1999) .... Sfc. Troy Barlow
The Corruptor (1999) .... Danny Wallace
The Big Hit (1998) .... Melvin Smiley
Boogie Nights (1997) .... Eddie Adams/Dirk Diggler
Traveller (1997) .... Pat O'Hara
Fear (1996) .... David McCall
The Basketball Diaries (1995) .... Mickey
Renaissance Man (1994) .... Pvt. Tommy Lee Haywood
The Substitute (1993)  .... Ryan Westerberg