Mark Wahlberg has confessed that he would rather have been a professional athlete than an actor.

The 37-year-old, whose new film Max Payne opened in the UK yesterday, described his status in Hollywood as a “consolation prize”.

He explained: “It’s always been a dream of mine, a childhood fantasy to play a great champion. I would much rather have been an athlete than an actor. It’s a second-placed consolation prize.”

Wahlberg is hoping to channel his sporting prowess into Darren Aronofsky’s The Fighter, a movie charting the rise of junior welterweight boxer Micky Ward.

The actor said he is confident that the project will move forward on the back of the festival success of Aronofsky’s The Wrestler, but stressed that they first need to find a leading man to replace Brad Pitt.

He said: “God, Mickey Rourke’s probably gonna get nominated for an Academy Award [for The Wrestler] and the other part in The Fighter is primed for somebody.

“It’s a huge commitment. I’ve been training for two years to do this movie and I guess it can be scary, going to that dark place and making it real. I’m certainly willing to do it. We’ll find somebody to do it.”
Source: Digital Spy

Q DID you know the computer game the film is based on?

A NO, but I checked it out and realised they’ve changed quite a bit since my days of going to the arcade playing Pacman.

But I can’t get caught up playing video games. I have an addictive personality and three children so it would be very irresponsible for me to pick up another habit. I have golf which is my one vice.

Q YOU have a five year old daughter, two year old son and a newborn son at four weeks - how’s your sleep?

A I’M getting a little bit more than mommy is. After being on the road I can pretty much sleep through everything. She’s taking care of the newborn because I am terrified of babies until they’re like six months old because they’re fragile looking, but I’m keeping the other kids busy.

Q HOW is it being a father of three?

A IT’S awesome. It’s a little more complicated but I’m the youngest of nine kids so I’ll have as many as mommy can handle.

Q SO another six to go?

A I DON’T think she wants to go there.

Q YOUR brother Donnie is back with New Kids On The Block. Fancy going back on the road as Marky Mark?

A NO. Never, ever. Definitely not. I miss the freedom of being irresponsible at times but it’s not good.
Source: Daily Record

“It was OK. I wasn’t into the waif thing. She kind of looked like my nephew. I mean, she’s beautiful—she’s a very pretty nephew—but I’m more into curvy women.”

—Mark Wahlberg to Nuts magazine, on posing with a topless Kate Moss for those controversial Calvin Klein ads back in 1992
Source: E! Online

Actor Mark Wahlberg recently placed his lavish Beverly Hills home on the market for a whopping $15.9 million, according to published reports. The 1.4 acre, Mediterranean-style home has about 15,000 feet of living space, five bedrooms and 10-and-a-half bathrooms.

A substantial portion of the house is devoted to amenities that are befitting of a Hollywood mega-star and sex icon. These include a 2,500 square foot gym with a boxing ring, a full basketball court, a state-of-the-art 35mm home theater and two luxurious living rooms. Outdoor features include a two-story, private guest house, lush gardens, a waterfall pool with grotto and a putting green.

Wahlberg originally purchased the home in 2001 for $4.95 million. It was built in 1981 and is on the same street where other illustrious figures reside, including Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher and Ashlee Simpson. The listing of the home has additional photos and can be seen at http://guests.themls.com/profile_page.cfm?mls=08-318667&tab=search.
Source: Canyon News

Mark Wahlberg has revealed he’s reconsidering his previous plans to retire at 40.

The 37 year old’s film career as gone from strength to strength over the last decade, with his 2006 performance in The Departed receiving an Oscar nomination and his latest film Max Payne topped the US box office charts last weekend.

He explained recently that his ongoing success is going to make it hard to say goodbye to Hollywood - but it’ll be worth it when he does: “Maybe I’ll retire at 45 now. We’ll see.

“[But] I can’t be working at the pace that I am for much longer.

“I want to be able to take my kids to school and drag them to the golf course with me.”

Mark and partner Rhea Durham have three children together - five year old daughter Ella, two year old son Michael and four week old Brendan - and plan to marry next year.
Source: Fametastic

While not as funny as the Sarah Palin appearnace on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE this weekend, actor Mark Wahlberg did pop up to show he had a sense of humor about a strange sketch Andy Samberg did on the actor a few weeks ago called “Mark Wahlberg talks to animals.”

So after a week or so of commenting to the press he was going to kick Samberg’s ass, he showed up on the show to do just that — resulting in Wahlberg playing into the impression Samberg perfected of the actor a couple of weeks back.

Click below to see the clip (and below that is the original sketch).

Mark Wahlberg’s action tale “Max Payne” out-gunned the competition to lead Hollywood’s weekend with a $17.6 million opening.

Oliver Stone’s “W.,” a film biography of George W. Bush, debuted at No. 4.

The top 10 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, as compiled Monday by Media By Numbers LLC, are:

1. “Max Payne,” $17.6 million.

2. “Beverly Hills Chihuahua,” $11.4 million.

3. “The Secret Life of Bees,” $10.53 million.

4. “W.,” $10.51 million.

5. “Eagle Eye,” $7 million.

6. “Body of Lies,” $6.8 million.

7. “Quarantine,” $6.1 million.

8. “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist,” $3.7 million.

9. “Sex Drive,” $3.6 million.

10. “Nights in Rodanthe,” $2.7 million.
Source: Ventura County Star

Here’s a happening Mark Wahlberg can be proud of.

E! News has confirmed the Oscar-nominated actor and fiancée Rhea Durham have settled on a name for their newborn son: Brendan Joseph.

While the couple has yet to officially comment on the birth, a source close to the clan confirmed the baby moniker.

The tyke, the couple’s third child together, was born Sept. 16, weighing in at 7 pounds, 10 ounces.

He joins brother Michael, 2, and sister Ella, 4, in the Durham-Wahlberg brood.

Here’s hoping that Ella, who, according to her dad, was “extremely disappointed when she found out that we were having a boy,” can handle it.

“She already had all these plans of dressing a little sister up in clothes,” Wahlberg told Us Weekly, which first reported the birthing news. “But I told her, ‘Honey, that means you’ll be more spoiled than the boys.’ She goes, ‘Oh, daddy, I didn’t think of that!’ ”

As for the Departed star’s plans to tie the knot, he has said that he and the mother of his kids are planning an intimate affair for the summer of 2009.

“She wants to wait until after the baby,” Wahlberg, who hits theaters next in the video game-based action thriller Max Payne, told People in June. “We’ve been very fortunate. We’ve waited and worked hard to really strengthen our relationship. We want it right.”
Source: E! Online

Mark Wahlberg’s fiancee, Rhea Durham, has given birth to the couple’s third child, according to Us Weekly.

While the couple have not released the name, Us Weekly reports the child is a boy.

Wahlberg, the star of the upcoming film “Max Payne,” and Durham, have two children together — Ella, 4, and Michael, 2.

“It really is a beautiful thing,” Wahlberg told Access Hollywood earlier this summer about having children.

And he compared his upcoming role as the title character of “Max Payne,” where he gets to, “go off, scream, cry, smash heads,” as being similar to life as a dad.

“That’s all happening to me,” he smiled. “My own children are doing that to me now… At first I was like, ‘Why are my kids like that?’ And then I realized, they’re just like dad.”
Source: MSNBC

20th Century Fox has revealed the full new trailer for Mark Wahlberg’s action-thriller “MAX PAYNE”, opening in theaters on October 17. Directed by John Moore, the video game adaptation co-stars Mila Kunis, Beau Bridges, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges and Olga Kurylenko.

Wahlberg plays maverick cop Max Payne who is hell-bent on revenge against those responsible for the brutal murder of his family and partner. His obsessive investigation takes him on a nightmarish journey into a dark underworld. As the mystery deepens, Max is forced to battle enemies beyond the natural world and face an unthinkable betrayal.