He gained fame as a member of the hip hop group Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch in the 1990s, with whom he released the albums Music for the People (1991) and You Gotta Believe (1992).

In the early 2000s, Wahlberg ventured into big-budget action movies, such as The Perfect Storm (2000), Planet of the Apes (2001), and The Italian Job (2003).

His mother, Alma Elaine (née Donnelly; 1942–2021), was a bank clerk and a nurse's aide, and his father, Donald Edmond Wahlberg Sr. (1930–2008), was a U.S. Army veteran of the Korean War.

[8][9] Wahlberg was raised Catholic,[10][11] and attended Copley Square High School on Newbury Street in Boston.

[15][16][17][18] In April 1988, Wahlberg, then 16, assaulted a middle-aged Vietnamese-American man on the street, calling him a "Vietnam fucking shit" and knocking him unconscious with a large wooden stick.

When Wahlberg was arrested and returned to the scene of the first assault, he told police officers: "I'll tell you now that's the mother-fucker whose head I split open.

[25] Court documents state that in 1992, Wahlberg, "without provocation or cause, viciously and repeatedly kicked" Crehan in the face, while another man, Derek McCall, held the victim on the ground.

[33] In 1990, Wahlberg began recording with dancers/rappers Scott Ross (Scottie Gee), Hector Barros (Hector the Booty Inspector), Anthony Thomas (Ashley Ace), and Terry Yancey (DJ-T) as Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, earning a hit with "Good Vibrations" from their debut album Music for the People.

The record, produced by brother Donnie, hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100, later becoming certified as a platinum single.

[35][36] The second Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch LP, You Gotta Believe, was not as successful as the first, yielding only a minor hit single in the title track.

[37] In December 1992, while performing on the British TV show The Word, Wahlberg praised Shabba Ranks, who had stated gay people should be crucified.

[39] Trying to resuscitate his music career, he had shifted to Hamburg, where he was produced under the label of East West Records by Frank Peterson and Alex Christensen.

The project combined rap vocals, electronic-infused ragga, and "European dancefloor" music, delivering the singles "Happy People", German number one hit "United", "Life in the Streets", and "Babylon", with Peterson and Christensen as producers.

[44] After his album with Ital Joe became a hit in Germany, he started putting together a musical act called One Love with him as its producer and also sometimes its lead singer.

[46] In 1996, Wahlberg returned to Hamburg to record a solo single titled "Hey DJ" with producer Toni Cottura.

He earned positive reviews after films such as Boogie Nights (1997), The Big Hit (1998), Three Kings (1999), The Perfect Storm (2000), and Four Brothers (2005).

Wahlberg was originally cast as Linus Caldwell in Ocean's Eleven, but Matt Damon played the role instead.

[53] Wahlberg starred in the American football drama Invincible (2006), based on the true story of bartender Vince Papale.

He was also executive producer and appeared in the HBO series Entourage (2004–2011) and its follow-up film (2015), which was loosely based on his experiences in Hollywood.

[61][62] He played Jack Salmon, the father of the protagonist, Susie, in Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones (2009), a film adaptation of the Alice Sebold book of the same name.

[71] In 2022, Wahlberg starred in the Uncharted film, as Victor Sullivan, having originally been cast to play Nathan Drake years prior.

[76] Besides Entourage, Wahlberg was also executive producer of the period crime drama Boardwalk Empire (2010–2014), the comedy-dramas How to Make It in America (2010–2011) and Ballers (2015–2019), and the documentary McMillions (2020).

Annie Leibovitz also shot a famous session of Wahlberg in underwear for Vanity Fair's annual Hall of Fame issue.

[82] It was Mark's idea to expand Paul's restaurant in Hingham, Massachusetts into a full-fledged chain, with a reality show to promote it.

[84] Wahlberg was introduced to the game by his friend Ajmal Khan, the club's chairman and Caribbean Premier League founder.

[88] Wahlberg, together with former GNC executive Tom Dowd, co-founded Performance Inspired, a sports nutrition company launched in 2016.

[91] On July 20, 2018, Wahlberg and his business partner, Jay Feldman, announced the purchase of Bobby Layman Chevrolet in Columbus, Ohio.

They had three children during the first seven years of their relationship, and married on August 1, 2009, at the Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Beverly Hills, near where they lived.

[99][100][101][102] Wahlberg was booked to fly on American Airlines Flight 11 on September 11, 2001, but his plans changed the day before and he cancelled his reservation.

[106] In September 2015, he apologized to Pope Francis over the crude jokes he made in the film Ted,[107] and he stated in an interview with Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago in 2017 that he sought forgiveness from God for playing a porn star in Boogie Nights.