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Donald Edmond Wahlberg (born August 17, 1969) is an American actor who was formerly a member of the popular 1980s and 1990s boy band, New Kids on the Block. He is the older brother of fellow actor Mark Wahlberg. With a background that includes music, feature films, and television, Wahlberg is now working as an actor and producer.

Early life

Wahlberg was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, as the eighth of nine children in a Roman Catholic family of Swedish and Irish descent, Wahlberg began performing in plays as early as the first grade. In high school, he attended a fledgling arts program and became involved in theatre, acting, writing, and directing plays.

Career

At age 15, Wahlberg joined New Kids On The Block and in a few years they went from playing at high school parties to becoming the pop music sensation. Donnie was known as the "bad boy" of the group and was known to curse during live performances on awards shows. Following the group's disbanding in 1994, Wahlberg made a decision to go in another direction, focusing on writing and producing for his younger brother, Mark.

As an actor, Donnie Wahlberg's first film appearance was in the 1996 film Bullet with Mickey Rourke and Tupac Shakur, a project that lit a spark in him, motivating him to continue to work on his craft. Also in 1996, he appeared as a kidnapper in over his head in Ransom with Mel Gibson. Wahlberg received attention for his role in the 1999 film The Sixth Sense, playing the distraught patient of Bruce Willis's character in the opening sequence. This role was originally intended for a 13-year-old boy until Wahlberg met with writer and director M. Night Shyamalan to inquire about obtaining the rights for a theatre production and ended up getting this pivotal role.

In 2001 Wahlberg co-starred as 2nd Lieutenant C. Carwood Lipton in the Emmy Award-winning television miniseries Band of Brothers. Wahlberg also starred in the 2002–2003 NBC drama series Boomtown as Joel Stevens, an intense Los Angeles police detective struggling to keep his troubled home life private while remaining dedicated to facing the challenges of his daily work life. Graham Yost, executive producer and writer of Boomtown, had worked with Wahlberg in Band of Brothers and was so impressed by his performance that he wrote the role of Joel Stevens specifically for him.

2003 was also the year that Wahlberg starred along side Timothy Olyphant and Jason Lee as the mentally challenged Duddits in William Goldman and Lawrence Kasdan's adaptation of the Stephen King alien-invasion thriller, Dreamcatcher. Many see this as one of Wahlberg's most demanding roles.

In 2005 Donnie starred as the main detective in the second installment of the Saw series. He would reprise that role for Saw III as well.

In September 2006, he also starred as the lead role of the new TV series Runaway on the upcoming CW Television Network, but the show failed to make an impact and was cancelled after just four episodes.

In January 2007, he will star alongside Jason Gedrick, Ricardo Chaivera, and Nadine Velasquez in the original MOW Kings of South Beach on A&E Network.

Personal

Wahlberg is a body art enthusiast; he has had his left ear pierced four times, as well as piercings in his left nostril and his left nipple. He also has a tattoo of his family crest on his left arm.

Wahlberg currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife Kim, and sons Xavier and Elijah.

Trivia

• A nickname by which Wahlberg has been known is "Dennis Cheese", and he is credited this way for the rap he performs on Tiffany's song "New Inside", the title track to her 1990 album.
• In 1990, Wahlberg scored a hit on the Top 100 with "The Right Combination", a duet with Japanese pop star Seiko Matsuda who was attempting to cross-over to North America from the Japanese market.
• In 1994, Wahlberg was a special guest celebrity at WrestleMania X, acting as special guest ring announcer for the main event, as well as joining Bret Hart, along with other wrestlers, in celebrating his World Championship win.
• His favorite book is The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier.
• Shortly after Saw III started filming, Donnie announced that he was having creative differences and would no longer be reprising his role of Detective Eric Matthews. Much to everyone's surprise he was featured in the movie, meaning that the announcement was to trick Saw fans. He actually signed a contract stating that he wouldn't tell anyone about him being in the film.

Donnie is also a huge Boston Celtics fan, as he can be seen attending the games and joining Tommy Heinsohn and Mike Gorman announcing the game as a special guest.

Selected filmography

• Kings of South Beach (2007), as Andy
• The Path to 9/11 (2006), television miniseries, as Kirk
• Runaway (2006), (TV series), as Paul Rader
• Annapolis (2006), as Burton
• Saw III (2006), as Detective Eric Matthews
• Saw II (2005), as Detective Eric Mathews
• Boomtown (2002–2003), television series, as Dt. Joel Stevens
• Dreamcatcher (2003)
• Band of Brothers (2001), television miniseries, as C. Carwood Lipton
• The Sixth Sense (1999), as Vincent Gray
• Southie (1998)
• Ransom (1996)
• Bullet (1996)

External links

• Donnie Wahlberg cast bio on The CW
• http://www.donniewahlberg.net
• http://www.thosewahlbergmen.com

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