Mark Wahlberg has spent years working to shed his old Marky Mark image, and much of that transformation has run straight through his Catholic faith.
“I accredit all my personal and professional success to my faith,” Wahlberg told author Eric Metaxas.
The FATHER STU star is one of the most vocal Christians in Hollywood, and he’s not shy about crediting God for pulling him out of a life that once landed him in prison. Here are nine faith facts about the actor, in his own words.
1. He starts every day on his knees.
Wahlberg will skip a workout before he skips prayer.
“That’s the most important thing,” the actor said in an interview. “I take a day off, I take two days a week off from the gym now. I don’t take a day off from getting on [my] hands and knees and reading my prayer book and my daily devotionals.”
Movieguide® previously reported that he uses that time to express “the gratitude that I have for all the blessings that have been bestowed upon me,” and to ask for the strength to use his talents to help others.
2. He credits his faith for every good thing that’s ever happened to him.
“[My faith] has been very real to me from a very early age,” Wahlberg told Eric Metaxas.
“I accredit all my personal and professional success to my faith,” he added. “When I started doing good things, good things started happening for me.”
3. He’s “constantly” pursuing God.
Wahlberg has partnered with the Catholic prayer app Hallow and THE CHOSEN’s Jonathan Roumie for the Pray40 Lenten challenge, and he uses the platform to talk about daily prayer without much filter.
“I’m constantly pursuing a relationship with God. Every day I feel like, if I get on my hands and my knees first thing when I wake up, that the rest of the day is going to be easier — at least I can deal with all the things that are being thrown at me,” Wahlberg explained in a Fox News interview.
4. He refuses to deny his faith in Hollywood.
Appearing on THE TODAY SHOW on Ash Wednesday, Wahlberg addressed Hollywood’s cool relationship with religion head-on.
“I don’t want to jam it down anybody’s throat, but I do not deny my faith. That’s an even bigger sin,” he said. “It’s not popular in my industry, but, you know, I cannot deny my faith.”
5. He believes God saves sinners, not saints.
In that same TODAY SHOW conversation, Wahlberg pushed back on the idea that faith is only for the already holy.
“God didn’t come to save the saints. He came to save the sinners,” he said. “We want to be better versions of ourselves, and through focusing my faith, it’s allowed me to do that.”
6. He calls FATHER STU his “love letter to God.”
Wahlberg spent millions of his own dollars to bring the true story of the Rev. Stuart Long — a boxer turned Catholic priest — to the screen in 2022’s FATHER STU.
“I couldn’t find any reason to not want to make it once I was actually smart enough to realize that this was an amazing opportunity not only to tell a story, but to do something that would be more focused on my faith and giving back,” Wahlberg told Religion News Service, later describing the movie as his “love letter to God.”
7. He’s asked God to forgive him for BOOGIE NIGHTS.
Wahlberg has never hidden the fact that some of his early credits don’t line up with the man he is now.
He told the Chicago Tribune he hopes “that God is a movie fan and also forgiving,” because he says he’s made “some poor choices” in the past. Asked whether he had specifically prayed for forgiveness for any of his movies, he named 1997’s BOOGIE NIGHTS, in which he played a porn star.
8. He leads his kids by example, not by lecture.
Wahlberg and his wife Rhea are raising four Catholic kids, but he says he doesn’t preach at the dinner table.
“I don’t force it on them,” Wahlberg told THE TODAY SHOW. “But they know dad can’t start the day without being in prayer, can’t start the day without reading my Scripture or going to Mass. And hopefully, instead of forcing it on them, they’ll say, ‘Well, if it works for dad, maybe it’ll work for us,’ and they’ll kind of gravitate towards it on their own.”
9. He’s asking believers to “let go.”
During his Pray40 videos with Hallow, Wahlberg leads participants through “Fasting Fridays,” where he pushes viewers to surrender the things weighing them down.
“If we’re gonna pray every day this Lent, if we’re going to give our hearts and our minds and our souls and our bodies completely to the Lord, we first have to let go,” Wahlberg said in a video posted by Hallow. “We have to let go of everything that’s holding us down to this world. This world is not one of freedom.”
Movieguide® previously reported that Wahlberg has said he’s committed to doing “more faith-based content and more stuff that just has substance and helps people.” For a man who once told a young audience that his own prayer routine is what keeps him grounded, that trajectory tracks.
Read Next: 5 Times Mark Wahlberg Encouraged Fans to Pray
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