Another heavy hitting rapper who's managed to make the transition from musician to film is Mark Wahlberg (36). Gone are the days where he rapped his 1992 number one Billboard hit "Good Vibrations." And, there's definitely no more Funky Bunch backing up this bad boy rapper turned actor. Wahlberg has made a complete transformation and if you were not aware of his rapper past before, you'd be shocked to believe that it even existed not too long ago. Maturity can sure do wonders for people.
Though Wahlberg's film career began slowly with such films as "The Substitute" (1993) and "Renaissance Man" (1994) with Danny DeVito, it was not until the movie "Boogie Nights" (1997), where he portrayed a porn-star, that his acting career began to take shape and garner him much attention in Hollywood. It has been nothing but uphill since then for this kid from Dorchester, MA.
He has seen victory in movies such as "Three Kings" (1999) and "The Perfect Storm" (2000) with co-star and Hollywood heavy hitter George Clooney. 2001 was definitely not a bad year for Mark since he had starring roles in two movies - the remake of "Planet of the Apes" and "Rock Star" which he starred in with Jennifer Aniston. Talk about making it to the big leagues. Who knew that a bit of trash talking as a rapper and a Calvin Klein ad with model Kate Moss in 1992 could get a man so far in life. Or, at least make one stand out so much from the rest.
As Mark continues on this golden road to stardom, it is obvious that he has many more entertaining and intriguing movies to make. "The Italian Job" (2003) was one of those 'fasten your seat belts, give us more' type of movies. While "Four Brothers" (2005) depicted that, keeping loyalty in mind, people can come together to right a wrong. Martin Scorsese's "The Departed" (2006), where he shared the screen with fellow actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Jack Nicholson, demonstrated Mark's range as a performer and even gained him a Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. We feel nothing but sweet sensations for his continued success.