Donnie Wahlberg

Early life

Wahlberg was born in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston. He is the eighth of nine children, with older siblings, Arthur, Jim, Paul, Robert, Tracey, Michelle, Debbie and younger brother, Mark. Wahlberg began his entertainment career as the leader of the late 1980s/early 1990s boy band, New Kids on the Block. He also has three half-siblings from his father's first marriage: Donna, Scott and Buddy. His mother, Alma Elaine (née Donnelly), was a bank clerk and nurse's aide who died on April 19, 2021, and his father, Donald Edmond Wahlberg, who died in 2008, was a teamster who worked as a delivery driver; they divorced in 1982. His father was of Swedish and Irish descent, and his mother was of Irish, English, and French-Canadian ancestry. Wahlberg has described his family as having an Irish-Catholic background. He said his first job was in the foreign-exchange office of a bank.

Career

New Kids on the Block

Main article: New Kids on the Block

As a recording artist, Wahlberg is known as an original member of the boy band New Kids on the Block. The band, which was put together by Maurice Starr and Mary Alford to create a "white counterpart" to New Edition, first found Wahlberg, age 15, and made him the first member of the band after hearing his rapping skills. His brother Mark was also in it but left after a few months. With the additions of Jonathan and Jordan Knight, Danny Wood and Joey McIntyre, they became known as New Kids on the Block.

After ten years, they announced their break up in 1994. In April 2008, Wahlberg confirmed to CNN that NKOTB were planning on recording and starting up a new tour. Their first album as a reunited group, The Block, was released in September 2008, and topped American charts and was Certified gold. The group's reunion tour, New Kids on the Block: Live, began at Toronto's Air Canada Centre on September 18, 2008. As of 2024, NKOTB still tour and Wahlberg remains a member.

Film and TV career

Wahlberg's first film acting role was in the 1996 film Bullet with Mickey Rourke and Tupac Shakur. Also in 1996, he appeared as a kidnapper in Ransom with Mel Gibson. He went back to his home town for a starring role in the South Boston-based film Southie. Wahlberg received attention for his role in the 1999 film The Sixth Sense, playing the patient of Bruce Willis' character in the opening sequence.

In 2001, Wahlberg co-starred as Second Lieutenant C. Carwood Lipton in the television miniseries Band of Brothers. He also starred in the 2002–2003 NBC drama series Boomtown as Joel Stevens, a Los Angeles police detective. Graham Yost, executive producer and writer of Boomtown, had worked with him in Band of Brothers and was so impressed by his performance that he wrote the role of Joel Stevens specifically for him.

In 2003, Wahlberg starred alongside Timothy Olyphant, Jason Lee, and his Band of Brothers co-star Damian Lewis as the mentally challenged Duddits in William Goldman and Lawrence Kasdan's adaptation of the Stephen King alien-invasion thriller, Dreamcatcher. In 2005, he starred as Detective Eric Matthews in the second installment of the Saw series. He reprised the role in Saw III in 2006 and Saw IV in 2007, also appearing in Saw V in 2008 via archive footage from the previous films.

In 2006, Wahlberg played Lieutenant Commander Burton in the military/boxing drama Annapolis. In September 2006, he played the lead role in the short-lived television drama Runaway on The CW. The show was canceled in October 2006 due to poor ratings. In 2007, he starred in the television film Kings of South Beach on A&E. Also in 2007, he starred on the TV series The Kill Point.

In 2008, Wahlberg appeared in Righteous Kill and co-starred in What Doesn't Kill You.

Wahlberg stars as 1st Grade Detective Danny Reagan on CBS's Blue Bloods, a police drama set in New York City. In an interview, he said he was drawn to the Blue Bloods role after his experience playing an NYPD detective in a 2005 NBC TV pilot NY70 set in the 1970s that was not picked up. He also previously worked with Blue Bloods co-star Bridget Moynahan on an unsuccessful 2008 TNT pilot called Bunker Hill (originally titled Morse Code), and encouraged her to take the role as his sister on Blue Bloods. He directed an episode in the show's fourth season.

He has said he considers himself a character actor rather than a "movie star" like his brother.

, Wahlberg is the host of an internet radio show on Friday nights at 8 pm PST called "DDUB's R&B Back Rub" on Cherry Tree Radio and appeared in the 2011 comedy Zookeeper.

Wahlberg is the current host of the documentary series Very Scary People since 2019, the broadcast of which moved from HLN to Investigation Discovery in 2023.

In November 2016, it was reported that he was a co-producer on a CBS comedy in early development about a boy band reuniting after 20 years.

In 2021, Wahlberg worked on season five of The Masked Singer as the rooster "Cluedle-Doo" who gave exclusive clues to the viewers. After performing Mark Morrison's "Return of the Mack" in the semi-finals, Wahlberg was unmasked. He even stuck around when Omarion was unmasked as the wild card contestant "Yeti".

In 2022, he sold two TV police drama projects as an executive producer to CBS Studios as part of an overall deal with the studio, Harbor Blue and Samaritan, though neither had entered production as of 2024. Earlier that year, the production company Work Baby Productions he formed together with his wife to develop unscripted, reality and documentary content signed a three-year first-look deal with Lionsgate, including a partnership with Pilgrim Media Group.

In 2024 he was featured in the Paramount Plus documentary Larger Than Life: Reign of the Boybands and the following year in 2025 in the HBO documentary series Celtics City as well as in the ESPN series Believers about the Boston Red Sox.

Personal life

In 1991, Wahlberg was charged with first-degree arson for setting a fire at the historic Seelbach Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky. Authorities stated that Wahlberg, then known as the "bad boy" of boy band New Kids on the Block, was partying with fellow band member Danny Wood and fans in the early morning hours when Wahlberg dumped vodka on a hallway carpet and ignited it. Wahlberg was facing up to 20 years in prison, but the charge was later reduced to misdemeanor criminal mischief, and eventually dismissed after Wahlberg agreed to appear in public-service videos addressing fire safety, drug abuse and drunk driving.

Wahlberg married Kimberly Fey on August 20, 1999, with whom he has two sons. They filed for divorce on August 13, 2008, citing irreconcilable differences. In July 2013, Us Weekly reported that he was dating actress Jenny McCarthy after meeting on Watch What Happens Live in March. They announced their engagement on The View on April 16, 2014, and wed on August 31, 2014, at the Hotel Baker in St. Charles, Illinois, where they now live, after previously living outside New York.

Wahlberg is a fan of the Boston Celtics and has been seen attending many of their games. He narrated The Association: Boston Celtics, a documentary about the team's 2010 season, and co-narrated, alongside Ice Cube, the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary Celtics/Lakers: Best of Enemies, about the Celtics' rivalry with the Los Angeles Lakers. He co-owns a line of restaurants, Wahlburgers, located in Boston, MA and St. Charles, IL with brothers Paul and Mark. In December 2024 he delivered a weather report on the Los Angeles TV station KTLA and was described as being "obsessed with weather."

In May 2025 he was inducted in to the Alumni Hall of Fame of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. In October 2025 he received a lifetime achievement award from the Boston Arts Academy foundation.

He has said he makes an effort to engage with fans on social media and in person. Blue Bloods co-star Will Estes has called him "one of the most engaging people I've ever seen with his fans."

Political views

In February 2016, Wahlberg endorsed Republican candidate Marco Rubio for president of the United States, but later said the decision had been "tough" because "we have a lot of things we don't agree on." On the prospect of Donald Trump as president, he commented, "We can blame the president, we can blame the government, but we also have to look at ourselves if we vote with emotion, which we're on the verge of doing again collectively, the angry vote is what is moving the meters right now."

Discography

with New Kids on the Block

Main article: New Kids on the Block discography

;Studio albums

• New Kids on the Block (1986)
• Hangin' Tough (1988)
• Step by Step (1990)
• Face the Music (1994)
• The Block (2008)
• 10 (2013)
• Still Kids (2024)

;Solo

• "The Right Combination" – duet with Seiko Matsuda (1990)

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

Video games

Awards and nominations

References

References

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