Mark Wahlberg is an American actor, rapper, model, producer, and entrepreneur who has a net worth of $400 million. Mark Wahlberg has definitely had one of the more interesting careers in Hollywood. The original fifth member of the pop juggernaut known as “The New Kids on the Block,” Mark left the group and fell into a life of crime during his teens. He was eventually sent to prison and subsequently decided to get his act together. In the early 1990s, he launched a successful rap career performing as “Marky Mark” in a group called Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. As Marky Mark, he put out a handful of successful singles, most notably “Good Vibrations,” which was certified Platinum. Around this time, he also appeared in a number of successful Calvin Klein ads and a now-famous photo spread for Vanity Fair. In the mid-90s, he shifted his focus to acting, dropped the “Marky Mark” moniker, and soon found himself enjoying an A-List acting and producing career. As an actor, he can easily command $10 million to appear in a film but typically accepts lower salaries in exchange for shares of the backend gross. To date, his films have grossed more than $5.4 billion at the global box office. His biggest box office hit is 2014’s “Transformers: Age of Extinction,” which earned $1.1 billion worldwide. The 2017 sequel earned $600 million globally.
Some notable Mark Walhberg movies include “Lone Survivor,” “Patriot’s Day,” “Boogie Nights,” “Shooter,” “The Perfect Storm,” “Rock Star,” “The Italian Job,” “The Departed,” “The Other Guys,” “Ted” and several “Transformers” movies. Along the way, he has received a BAFTA Award, three SAG Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and has won a host of other honors.
Perhaps most importantly for his net worth, Mark Wahlberg is a highly successful and sought-after entertainment producer and entrepreneur. Mark has experienced enormous success through his Wahlburgers burger franchise and fitness chain, F45 Fitness, the latter of which went public in July 2021. As we detail later in this article, thanks to his early venture capital investment, today, Mark owns 8 million shares of F45. As of this writing there are around 50 chains of Wahlburgers around the world, and the company generates over $100 million in annual revenue.
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Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg was born on June 5, 1971, in Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts. He is the youngest of nine children.
Mark was originally meant to be one of the members of New Kids on the Block. He was 13 years old at the time, and his older brother Donnie Wahlberg was also a member. Mark quit New Kids after a few months.
He was a troubled kid. At the age of 16, he was sentenced to two years in jail after pleading guilty to felony assault following a violent attack against two Vietnamese men in 1988. He ended up only serving 45 days of his sentence. He also was involved in attacks on various groups of African American children, which involved the yelling of racial epithets.
Following Wahlberg’s release from jail, his brother Donnie actually helped him get back into the music business, producing Marky Mark’s debut album. Marky Mark’s 1991 single “Good Vibrations,” off the album “Music for the People,” was number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and later went platinum. His second album was less successful but earned him a fan base and a reputation for dropping his pants in public.
In 1992, Wahlberg was recruited as a model for Calvin Klein underwear, and his image was famously displayed on a Times Square billboard for much of the year.
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Following his acting debut in the TV film “The Substitute” (1993), Wahlberg dropped the “Marky Mark” moniker. He made his big-screen debut in “Renaissance Man” (1994), however, it wasn’t until his 1995 film “The Basketball Diaries” alongside Leonardo DiCaprio that he began gaining the attention of critics. Wahlberg’s first starring film role was in “Fear” (1996). The following year he earned critical and audience praise for his portrayal of Dirk Digler, a fictionalized version of the legendary porn star John Holmes in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Boogie Nights” (1997). He continued to earn praise with 1999’s “Three Kings”.
In the 2000s, Wahlberg made the leap into big-budget action films like “The Perfect Storm” (2000), “Planet of the Apes” (2001), and “The Italian Job” (2003).
His performance in Martin Scorsese’s thriller “The Departed” (2006) earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actor, and a National Society of Film Critics Best Supporting Actor award. Other noted films he has starred in include “The Happening” (2008), “The Lovely Bones” (2009), the hit comedies “Ted” (2012) and “Ted 2” (2015), “Lone Survivor” (2013), “Transformers: Age of Extinction” (2014), “Daddy’s Home” (2015), “Deepwater Horizon” (2016), “Transformers: The Last Knight” (2017) and “Instant Family” (2018). His more recent films include 2022’s “Uncharted,” “Father Stu,” and “Me Time” with more projects underway.
In addition to being an A-list actor, Wahlberg is also a successful producer, serving as producer on many of the films he stars in. Through his production company, Closest to the Hole, he executive produced the HBO series “Entourage” (2004-2011), a show loosely based on his own experiences in Hollywood. When the series was active, he earned $3 million per year as an executive producer. He also produced the film version of Entourage.
Mark has executive produced the series “Boardwalk Empire,” “Ballers,” and “How to Make It in America.”
Closest to the Hole has also produced a number of films, including “Lone Survivor,” “The Fighter,” “Deepwater Horizon,” “Instant Family,” and “Patriots Day.”
To date, Mark’s production company has produced films that have generated nearly $900 million at the global box office.
After Kevin Spacey’s scandals broke, the studio behind the J. Paul Getty biography “All the Money in the World” made the stunning decision to recast and re-film his scenes with an entirely new actor. As a result, Mark and his co-star Michelle Williams were both called back to perform scenes again. A new controversy erupted when it was later revealed that Wahlberg received an extra salary of $1.5 million for his work on the reshoots. In comparison, Michelle Williams received less than $1,000 for her work.
In response, Wahlberg donated the money to the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, which helps to cover the legal expenses of women who experienced workplace sexual harassment and have come forward with their cases under the Time’s Up movement.
Aside from his famous 1992 Calvin Klein partnership, Wahlberg has also served as a brand ambassador for a variety of other brands, including health and nutrition brand GNC, where he promoted “Marked,” a line of sports nutrition supplements. He also signed a deal with AT&T in March 2017, reportedly for $10 million, to be their spokesman.
Wahlberg co-owns, with his brothers Donnie and Paul, the burger chain Wahlburgers. The Wahlberg family appeared in a reality series based on the chain that aired on A&E from January 2014 to July 2019.
As of this writing, there are 49 Wahlburger locations around the world. The company generates over $100 million in annual revenue.
In July 2013, Wahlberg became a part-owner of a Barbados-based cricket team. In 2015, he recruited rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs and billionaire investor Ron Burkle to invest in a bottled water company called Aquahydrate. He is also a co-founder of a sports nutrition company called Performance Inspired. In 2017, he participated in a $6 million funding round for the sneaker resale marketplace StockX. In 2018, Wahlberg and business partner Jay Feldman bought a Chevy dealership in Columbus, Ohio. The dealership was renamed Mark Wahlberg Chevrolet. In 2021, Wahlberg invested in the Flecha Azul Tequila brand.
How much of F45 does Mark Wahlberg on today? In March 2019, Wahlberg and a private equity firm called FOD Capital bought a stake in the F45 fitness franchise. Their investment valued F45 at $450 million.
In July 2021, F45 went public on the New York Stock Exchange. On its first day of trading it ended with a public market cap of $1.6 billion.
Mark directly owns 2.2 million shares of F45 under his own name. He also owns 5.8 million shares through an entity called MWIG, LLC, which is co-owned by Mark and several investors. Mark owns 26% of the shares owned by MWIG. At the company’s all-time peak market cap of $1.6 billion, Mark’s stake was worth $136 million. Unfortunately, F45’s time as a public company has been nothing short of disastrous. In August 2023, at a time when the company’s price per share had sunk to $0.10, F45 was de-listed from the New York Stock Exchange. By April 2024, Mark’s stake in F45 was worth $1.2 million.
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Mark Wahlberg married model Rhea Durham in 2009. They began dating in 2001. Together, they have four children.
Mark maintains a famously spartan daily workout and eating routine. In October 2018, he broke the daily routine down in a series of Instagram posts:
2:30 am: wake up
2:45 am: pray
3:15 am: breakfast – “I start out with steel oats, peanut butter, blueberries, and eggs for breakfast. Then I have a protein shake — Performance Inspired Nutrition Vanilla Latte Shake — three turkey burgers five pieces of sweet potato.“
3:40 to 5:15 am: work out
5:30 am: post-workout meal
“At 8 o’clock, I have about ten turkey meatballs. At 10:30, I have a grilled chicken salad with two hard-boiled eggs, olive, avocado, cucumber, tomato, and lettuce. And then at 1 o’clock I have a New York steak with green peppers. Then at 3:30 I have grilled chicken with bok choy. Then at 5:30, 6 o’clock, I have a beautiful piece of halibut or a cod or sea bass. Some sort of white fish.“
In between all that exercising and eating, he also has scheduled “family time” at 11 AM and 5:30 PM, plus picking his kids up at school in the afternoon.
In 2001, Mark paid $4.95 million for a home in Beverly Hills. He listed this home for sale in 2015 for $30 million. This house features seven bedrooms and eleven bathrooms, spread out over the 9000 square foot main home and a nearby guesthouse. It sits on almost two acres of land and is surrounded by lush, landscaped grounds, which include a pool with a waterfall, a golf course, a spa, a basketball court, and a personal fitness center. In April 2018, Wahlberg sold the home for $12.4 million.
For a little over a decade, Mark’s primary residence was an absolutely stunning estate in the gated Beverly Park community of Beverly Hills. Wahlberg and his wife bought one of Beverly Park’s last remaining undeveloped lots in May 2009 for $8.25 million. Sitting on 6+ acres, he hired famed architect Richard Landry to design what became a mildly ridiculous (in a good way) 30,000-square-foot main house. Construction costs alone likely topped north of $20 million. The final product features a golf course, basketball court, large pool, movie theater, and much more. Here is a video tour of Mark’s Beverly Park mansion:
Mark listed this home for sale in April 2022 for $87.5 million. After not getting any buyers for several months, in November 2022, Mark pulled the listing from the MLS. He then re-listed the home just a month later for $79.5 million.
In February 2023, they finally sold their Beverly Park mansion for $55 million. By selling their mansion as Nevada residents, they saved around $3.5 million in taxes they otherwise would have paid had they remained in California.
In August 2022, Mark and his wife paid $15.6 million for two vacant lots located within the ultra-exclusive gated community called The Summit in the suburbs of Las Vegas. While waiting for a mansion to be built, Wahlberg paid $14.5 million for a 7,300 square-foot townhouse in the exclusive resort community in Summerlin, The Summit Club. In September 2023, Mark sold his Summit Club townhouse for $16.6 million.
As we stated earlier today, Mark Wahlberg can earn a minimum of $10 million PLUS backend points to star in a blockbuster film. Below is a list of some of his notable acting base salaries over the years:
A supporting role in a Leonardo DiCaprio film, Wahlberg didn’t exactly start at the bottom as far as his film career is concerned. Nevertheless, he was only paid $60 thousand for his role in the film.
A suspense thriller released in the mid-nineties, Fear took Wahlberg’s career to a whole new level. Luckily for him, his paycheck also saw a boost. Still not quite the A-B list celebrity he is today, but the $250K he made for the film was certainly nothing to sneeze at.
A provocative film that chronicles the rise of so-called “golden age porn,” Boogie Nights comes complete with a full frontal from the young actor. Perhaps it was worth it, the star earned his first $1 million paycheck for his role in the film.
A war story about a treasure hunt, this was the turnaround point for Wahlberg as he actually started to be taken seriously as an actor. Complete with an equally awesome payday, the actor struck gold, earning $2 million for his role in the film.
An American biographical flick about the dangers of working on fish boats, Wahlberg starred alongside George Clooney and scored another $1 million for his role in this film.
A new-age interpretation of an epic, sci-fi standard, Wahlberg’s performance in Planet of the Apes was highly revered and earned him his biggest paycheck yet: $8 million!
An excellent year for Wahlberg, this film solidified the actor as a sex symbol as well as a force to be reckoned with. An awesome story about a working man who got the chance of a lifetime and ran with it, the film seems to parallel Wahlberg’s career in a number of ways. Either way, it goes, he was paid $6 million to play one of the greatest on-screen rock legends of all time.
A remake of the classic film Charade, this film is a romantic thriller of sorts filled with many twists and turns. Well worth the running around, Wahlberg scored an impressive $10 million for this film. Which had been his biggest paycheck to date.
An American remake of the British film (of the same name), The Italian Job is a film about a heist of epic proportions. However, his wallet wasn’t so lucky. The actor received only $2.5 million for his part in the movie.
A smaller role for the actor, nevertheless, I Heart Huckabees is a brilliant film that certainly enhanced the actor’s resume. A small yet vital part of an all-star cast including Jason Schwartzman, Dustin Hoffman, and Lily Tomlin, this role put a spotlight on his versatility and gave him an extra $500,000 to boot.
An awesome action film with a highly sympathetic storyline, Wahlberg starred alongside music greats Tyrese Gibson, Andre 3000, and actor Garrett Hedlund in this modern-day classic. Movie reviews were mostly stellar, and Wahlberg also earned $2 million for his role in the film.
A film geared towards football buffs, Invincible is an inspiring tale that Wahlberg helps to masterfully bring to life in this awesome flick. What’s more, he earned a pretty good living doing so. His bankroll increased by $5 million.
A mobster film that received rave reviews, Wahlberg’s supporting role in The Departed invited an additional $5 million into his bank account.
Another awesome action film, Wahlberg stars as a fleeing Marine sniper in this military-themed flick. Once again boosting his earnings, the star took home $10 million for his execution of the character Bob Lee Swagger.
Another action-packed film, this time Wahlberg stars as a boxer who is bogged down by intersectional, personal, and professional woes. Despite his stellar performance, the actor took a pay cut to play this role. He was paid $500,000 for his work in the film.
Juvenile, shocking, and provocative, Mr. Wahlberg stars opposite a talking teddy bear known as Ted (voice by Seth MacFarlane) in this highly comedic movie. Once again raking in the big bucks, the actor was paid $7.5 million for his role in the film.
A thriller for the new age, 2 Guns brought out the big gun, Denzel Washington, as the actor’s co-star. A great movie with a pretty good payday; Wahlberg scored $10 million for his work in this film.
Later in the same year, Wahlberg plays a Navy Seal stationed in Afghanistan. As touching as it is brutal, the star more than earned $4 million for lending his acting chops to the film.
As proof that acting is an unpredictable field, the actor scored his biggest payday ever for his starring role as Cade Yeager in the action-packed film. Although he certainly had fun playing a vigilante of sorts in this robotic-centered film, I’m fairly sure that the $17 million was one of his main motivations for taking the role.
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