How Mark Wahlberg’s ‘Entrepreneurial Spirit’ Inspires Business, Acting Ventures
By Movieguide® Contributor
In a recent interview with FOX Business, actor Mark Wahlberg explained why he’s an entrepreneur: it just comes naturally.
“Even as an actor, I always had an entrepreneurial spirit,” Wahlberg said. “I knew that the best scripts in town probably weren’t going to come to me first – coming from a musical background.”
“So, I would always go out there and seek material and try to find things that I could produce, things that I felt was right for movies that I wanted to make, or more importantly, movies that I thought people would want to see me in,” the INVINCIBLE actor said.
Movieguide® previously reported:
“I started becoming a producer out of necessity,” Wahlberg told Cigar Aficionado. “I didn’t want to sit around waiting for Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise or whoever was already established before me and were the guys at the time, and Leo [DiCaprio], to go and pass on a movie until I could get my hands on it.”
“I was always proactive in trying to find material and things that I could produce, that I knew was right for me, create my own destiny,” he added.
“In 2019, he co-founded his clothing line, Municipal. Wahlberg said shoes were always his “long-term” plan for the company because of his obsession with sneakers from a young age,” FOX reported.
His love for sneakers followed him into adulthood. Walhberg now boasts that his $180 shoes compare to those that are $800 or $1000 in the current market.
“Obviously, I’ve been a shoe guy for a long time, so I knew what I was looking for,” THE FIGHTER actor said. “Shoes always have one or two of the elements you’re looking for, but never all of them. So, I wanted to create something that looked cool, was super comfortable but also could perform.”
“I’m the youngest of nine, so everything in my life was hand-me-downs for as long as I could remember, until my sister bought me my first pair of Chuck Taylor [shoes], size one,” he continued. “High-top, white on white, and then I, of course, would keep that shoe as clean as possible. I would use my toothbrush to brush my shoes, not my teeth, until I couldn’t keep them white and clean anymore.”
Wahlberg continued, “I literally would try to do everything I could to put a hole in them to force my parents to buy me another pair of shoes, but I was always about hand-me-downs. So, I would go to shoe stores. I was a kid who looked in the windows.”
The actor also started a food chain, “Wahlburgers,” with his brothers. A&E Network even aired a TV show about their venture.
PEOPLE reported in 2019, “After filming over 80 episodes of Wahlburgers, the 48-year-old actor is bidding farewell to the A&E series, which has followed him and his older brothers Donnie and Paul as they’ve expanded their burger chain of the same name.”
Entrepreneur reported, “In his 2021 HBO Max docuseries Wahl Street, which he produced, Wahlberg said he loves business and entrepreneurship. ‘I think, ultimately, at the end of the day, I’ve got the bug. I’ve got the bug for business, and I’ve got people who are, like, putting in parts of their life savings and betting their future on me and us.’”
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