Donnie Wahlberg

In 1999, Donnie married Kim Fey and got divorced after nine years in 2008. They have two sons, Xavier and Elijah.

In 2014, he got married to TV personality Jenny McCarthy in Illinois.

His younger brother, Mark Wahlberg is also a well-known actor, singer and a producer.

Donnie was born on 17th August 1969 in Boston, Massachusetts, a predominantly Irish – American suburb of Boston. Donnie was eighth of the nine children born to his parents.

His mother, Alma Wahlberg was working as a nurse’s assistant at St. Margarate Hospital whereas his father, Donald Wahlberg worked as a truck driver. Donnie is named after his father.

He attended William Monroe Totter school in Roxbury. He had to travel more than half an hour each way for the school. On these long drives he developed a deep affection for the rap music. He became friends with Danny wood during his schooling at Roxbury. Both of them started composing rap lyrics.

After his parents’ divorce, he and his younger brother Mark started living with their mother. He joined Copley High School. Danny also joined this school. This is where they formed first rap group named ‘Kool Aid Bunch’.

In Copley High School, he started performing in school plays and got involved in various aspects of theater – acting, singing, writing and directing.

In 1984, at the age of 15 Donnie was auditioned by music producer Maurice Starr. Murice was amazed by his talent for singing, dancing and rapping and immediately enlisted him to form the centerpiece of ‘New Kids on the Block’. Donnie recruited younger brother Mark, old friend Danny Wood, Jorden Knight and Knight’s older brother Jonathan.

First album released by this group, ‘Be My Girl’, was a failure. Two years later they released another album ‘Hanging Tough’ and it became a huge hit.

In 1994, the group parted ways with Maurice Starr. Then they independently released an album ‘Face the Music’. This album was well received by the critics. However, commercially it did not do very good. After this album, the group broke later that year.

After parting away from the group, Donnie decided to try acting like his younger brother Mark. In 1996-97, he landed up with small roles as a tough / bad guy in the films like ‘Bullet’, ‘Ransom’ and ‘Black Circle Boys’.

In 1998, he got a starring role in the film ‘Southie’ along with his brother Robert.

In 1988, ‘New Kid on the Block’s second album was released. This album’s lead single ‘Please don’t go girl’ created hysteria among fans. By late 1989, this album was rated number one album in the U.S.

In 1990 this group released two more albums ‘Step by Step’ and Tonight’. These albums were also a hit. By this time, this group was the most popular music group in America.

Donnie really gained notice as an actor in 1999 with an astonishing performance as the deranged ex-patient who threatens Bruce Willis in the acclaimed film ‘The Sixth Sense’. Though his performance in this movie was short yet it was power packed. He lost 43 pounds for the role, and audience was surprised to discover that the emaciated, hysterical figure was the same Donnie from ‘New Kids on the Block’.