Mark Wahlberg

Marky Mark was the rapper alias of Mark Wahlberg, who in 1991 topped the pop charts with the single "Good Vibrations" (featuring powerhouse vocalist Loleatta Holloway) before going on to enormous box-office success as a screen actor.

Wahlberg, the youngest of nine children, was raised outside of Boston in Dorchester, Mass. While older sibling Donnie rose to international prominence as a member of the boy band New Kids on the Block, Mark was involved in a number of violent and racially motivated attacks; in part to get his brother off the streets, Donnie agreed to produce what would become Music for the People, credited to Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, a group featuring dancers/rappers Scott Ross (Scottie Gee), Hector Barros (Hector the Booty Inspector) Anthony Thomas (Ashey Ace) and Terry Yancey (DJ-T). The single "Good Vibrations," made memorable by sampled vocals from disco queen Holloway, topped the Billboard pop chart in 1991.

After Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch released their 1992 sophomore album You Gotta Believe to near-universal indifference, Mark Wahlberg went on to make two albums with reggae artist Prince Ital Joe and appeared in a series of underwear ads for Calvin Klein before turning to an acting career, landing his first starring role in the 1996 thriller Fear. He went on to star in films including Boogie Nights, Three Kings, Ted and Daddy's Home, even earning an Academy Award nomination for his supporting work in Martin Scorsese's The Departed.