Donnie Wahlberg's birthday

The Wahlberg family is one of the most successful families in show business, and luckily for Donnie Wahlberg, he’s a part of it. Brother of Mark Wahlberg, he’s not quite as famous as his sibling, but he is still super talented!

The Path To Stardom

Born August 17, 1969, in Boston, Massachusetts, Donnie Wahlberg is the eighth of nine children in an exceptionally large family. Like the other Wahlbergs, he has a mixture of Irish and Scottish ancestry in his blood, dating back well over a century. 

Aged just 15, Donnie Wahlberg became a founding member of New Kids on the Block, along with his older brother, Mark. The group became successful in the 1980s and 1990s with some big hits, including “I’ll Be Loving You Forever” and “The Right Stuff.” By the time their music careers concluded, they had sold over 70 million records.

In 1996, Donnie made the switch to acting, starring in the 1996 film, Bullet, alongside Tupac Shakur and Mickey Rourke. The film became a cult classic and an instant hit. Later, he played Vincent Grey, a patient of Bruce Willis’s character in The Sixth Sense, a film that saw massive critical acclaim from virtually every commentator and pundit in the industry.

In 2001, Donnie’s film success continued in the role of Second Lieutenant C. Carwood Lipton in the 2001 HBO miniseries, Band of Brothers. The show recounted various true stories of a World War II paratrooper unit sent into the field of battle, telling stories of brave men facing death. 

Later, he diversified his career again. First, he took the role of Joel Stevens, a Los Angeles police detective in the NBC drama series, Boomtown until 2003. Then, after that, he committed himself to the horror movie franchise, Saw, which ran from 2003 until 2008, again to considerable critical acclaim. 

Personal Life

At the same time as he was succeeding on the stage, Donnie was battling through challenges in his personal life. In 1999, he married actress Kim Fey and had two children with her over the following years. Unfortunately, the pair broke up in 2008 and Donnie and Fey went their separate ways. A few years later in 2014, Donnie married Jenny McCarthy and became a stepfather to her son. 

Recent Appearances

As Donnie’s career matured, he continued to take roles in leading crime drama series. After 2010, he starred as New York police detective Danny Reagan in the CBS drama, Blue Bloods. He was also the executive producer of the show, helping to make it popular and keep going for so many years.

Donnie also tried his hand at comedy in 2011 for the first time, starring in Zookeeper. He played the role of an abusive zookeeper alongside some of the biggest names in the segment, including Kevin James.