Mark Robert Michael
Wahlberg, aka Marky Mark aka Mark Wahlberg, is a study in how to rise,
phoenixlike, from the ashes of the early nineties.
Born on June 5th,
1971, Wahlberg’s early life in Boston was troubled. By thirteen he had
developed a cocaine addiction, and by 15 had become involved in a number of
domestic disputes with racist overtones.
Paradoxically, at around
the same time. Mark Wahlberg found success as a young musician. He was a
founding member of the seminal eighties boy band New Kids on the Block,
although he quit before the group really hit the big time (making room for
Joe McIntyre). The scrappy Wahlberg then formed his own group, the
delightfully named Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. When he was
twenty, the Bunch had a number one hit with “Good Vibrations” (no relation
to the Beach Boys song). The video for “Good Vibrations” featured a number
of what would later become Wahlberg trademarks: punching things, bad
rapping, and taking his shirt off.
Although the group’s
popularity quickly declined as the early nineties wore on, Wahlberg
continued to make music until 1997. It was then that he starred in Boogie
Nights as Dirk Diggler, a well-endowed busboy turned porn star.
From then on, Wahlberg
built a varied and successful movie career, including turns in quirky indie
comedies like I Heart Huckabees (1994) and triple-A
thrillers like The Departed (2006 ) alike. Wahlberg is Hollywood
royalty now, a far cry from his rough formative years. Not all the fight is
out of Marky Mark, though – he can still be found starring as a pugilist in
the Academy Award-Nominated The Fighter, or joking (?) about
breaking Andy Samberg’s nose for his pitch-perfect impression of Wahlberg on
Saturday Night Live.
As far as Mark Wahlberg has
come, it’s important that he never forget his roots. In that spirit, toast
the Mark so nice they named him twice with the eponymous “Marky Mark
Cocktail” and watching him again the The Departed.
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