Though he has improved now, but not by much, fans can't seem to forget all the things he has done that he has not really apologized for.
7. HE'S A DEVOUT CATHOLIC
Mark was sent away for two years at age 16 after he struck a Vietnamese man in the eye, but only served 45 days. It's such a cliche, but according to the now-reformed actor, he found belief in God and became a devout Catholic while in jail (he was born Catholic but did not practice it.]
After being released from jail he contacted his parish priest and asked for help. The priest mentored Wahlberg and helped him to return to a more spiritual life, to be a good man and a father. Mark credits him for turning around his life and told Catholic Online,
"I pray every day and try to go to church every day. My faith in God is what makes me a better man. It's the most important part of my life. I pray that I will live up to my intention to be the best husband and father than I can be."
He also added:
"I never would have been able to change my life and have the success and love that I have in my world today without my faith."
Ever since he reformed, he then began praying every morning, and went to daily mass. In fact, his wife Rhea was so impressed by his devotion that she converted to Catholicism.
6. TIME PUT HIM ON THE RIGHT PATH
As a teenager, Mark was taken in over 20 times, for various charges. When he was 21, Wahlberg didn't seem to learn from his past, as he fractured the jaw of a neighbor in an unprovoked attack.
According to Wahlberg, "As soon as I began that life of crime, there was always a voice in my head telling me I was going to end up in jail. Three of my brothers had done time. My sister went to prison so many times I lost count. Finally I was there, locked up with the kind of guys I'd always wanted to be like. Now I'd earned my stripes and I was just like them, and I realized it wasn't what I wanted at all. I'd ended up in the worst place I could possibly imagine and I never wanted to go back. First of all, I had to learn to stay on the straight and narrow." He told his street gang that he was leaving them and had 'some serious fights' with them over it.
In 2009, Mark Wahlberg talked about his life in crime: "I've made a lot of mistakes in my life and I've done bad things, but I never blamed my upbringing for that. I never behaved like a victim so that I would have a convenient reason for victimizing others. Everything I did wrong was my own fault. I was taught the difference between right and wrong at an early age. I take full responsibility."
5. HE DROPPED OUT OF SCHOOL BUT GOT HIS DEGREE IN HIS 40S
Mark Wahlberg never made it to the ninth grade. The high school dropout, instead, grew up in a life of so many problems, no one has enough time to list them all. But the penitent Mark, nearly in middle age, wanted to correct that and go back to get his degree.
S0 September 2013 was a milestone for Mark. According to E!, when the actor was 42, he announced that he had finished up his remaining credits and finally got his diploma.
Mark was candid when he wrote a blog post in the Huffington Post in 2013 about the importance of education. The article was titled Winning My Toughest Role Yet: High School Grad. He said,
"I was fortunate to find out I could attend high school online. For almost a year, I’ve been taking classes and studying any chance I could get - on the set, traveling for work and at home. It has been both humbling and challenging, but I’m happy to report that I am officially a high school graduate, having received my diploma this summer."
He added, "To those students struggling every day and - most importantly — to those who are looking for a second chance, I have a message for you: never give up. Keep believing in yourselves."
He ended his post by saying, "I am proud to re-introduce myself to you today as: "Mark Wahlberg - High School Graduating Class of 2013." Great news!
4. HE ACTS IN A MINIMAL WAY--THE BEST WAY
Wahlberg turned from troubled teen with a chip on his shoulder to an actor who succeeded in carrying a $100 million dollar movie, which was Planet of the Apes, a film that went on to gross $180,011,740 in North America. But what do directors think of him now that his acting credits are substantial? In a profile of Mark in Vanity Fair that we'll cover here, all of them had only good things to say about his actor. Scott Kalvert, the director The Basketball Diaries said, “When I met Marky, I’m like, ‘He’s gonna be a star.’ You could just tell. He just had an explosive charisma. I said, ‘You should act.’”
But it's Tim Burton, who directed Mark in Planet of the Apes, and James Foley, who directed him in Fear, that best gave us a portrait of Mark as an actor. Burton said, “I met Mark and thought he had a certain gravity to him, a kind of Steve McQueen simplicity where you don’t have to say much, I’ve always been fascinated by that type of acting where it’s minimal. But you have to have it; you can’t really tell somebody to do that.”
Foley said, “There was something in his eyes where you felt like it was the real deal—where you don’t have to act it out or pose it. . . This character had to be sexually attractive and dangerous. You know about his . . . potential for physical violence and all that energy has been sublimated into the focus on being an actor."
Well, coming to an industry that didn't want him, he succeeded in "[wiping] the sneer off people’s faces," as Foley said. "[A]nd convincing them he’s a serious actor. He’s kicked major ass.”
3. HE ONCE OWNED A HOUSE WITH A GYM TO END ALL GYMS
It's no surprise that Mark Wahlberg likes to work out. To keep his muscles sculpted and toned, and to work on those washboard ads, Mark goes to the gym a lot and naturally eats right. But he doesn't have to travel far to get to a gym. He owns a home fitness center at his Beverly Hills home that he has now sold.
The gym that is located in his 1.41 acre estate is 2,500 square feet and has two-stories. The gym is so large that it's housed inside a real airport hangar. It contains a ton of free weights, literally hundreds of machines and equipment, as well as a high-cost sound system so Mark can listen to music to stay motivated. It also holds a Boston Celtics-themed basketball court. But that's not all. It even has a professional boxing ring, which is where Wahlberg trained for four years for his Oscar-winning film The Fighter.
The sprawling Mediterranean estate has 11,500 square feet of interior space. There are five bedrooms, eight baths, a theater and a billiards room with a wet bar. Out back is a grotto-style pool, a waterfall and a putting green.
Wahlberg now lives in gated Beverly Park.
2. HE ALSO FINDS SUCCESS BEHIND THE SCENES
Did you know that Wahlberg is not just an Academy Award nominee actor? That, while acting in films such as Transformers and Ted, he has a successful career behind the scenes? He has been an executive producer for many TV shows and has succeeded, producing hits galore. In fact, ever since 2010, while starring in a film, he's also credited as being a producer. However, executive producer is much higher than a producer and Mark has the resume to prove it.
For four popular HBO shows, Wahlberg has served as executive producer, including the critically-acclaimed Boardwalk Empire, How To Make It In America and Ballers, which also stars Dwayne Johnson, whom Wahlberg worked with in the film Pain & Gain. But the most famous TV show that Wahlberg worked on as EP was the hit Entourage, which is loosely based on his experience of breaking into Hollywood and remaining there with the help of a kinetic and bombast agent. Wahlberg even used to guest star on the show as himself. And Entourage was such a hit on the small screen that it was made into a movie. In the movie, he was an EP and also guest starred. Is there anything Walhberg can't do?
1. HE SUPPORTS EQUAL RIGHTS
Mark Wahlberg has been pretty vocal about his faith, Catholicism, because he believed it helped him find redemption. He has always said good things about Catholics and even his wife, Rhea Durham, converted to Catholicism in 2009 just before their wedding. But one belief that doesn't jive well with the religion is that he's openly supportive of same-gender marriage. Because of this, he has received a lot of wide-spread criticism from Catholics. Nevertheless, he accepts that Catholics aren't happy with his belief. He prays every morning, and routinely goes to Church.
The one thing that is surprising about his faith is that he's prayed to God for forgiveness for starring in the 1997 critically-acclaimed and commercially-successful movie, Boogie Nights, which really launched his career as a bonafide movie star.
He doesn't say it, but it has to be because the movie traffics in the funky bunch, where women routinely expose their bright headlights, and the department of the skin flix, M.D. is not in service. He said, "I just always hope that God is a movie fan and also forgiving, because I've made some poor choices in my past." Are there other movies that he needs forgiveness? According to Mark, all he said was that "Boogie Nights' is up there at the top of the list."