Long time actor Mark Wahlberg has announced that he is likely going to be stepping away from acting in the near future, to spend more time on a new career path and allowing his family to pursue their dreams.
Mark Wahlberg told Marvin R. Shanken from Cigar Aficionado this week that he doesn’t think he will be acting much longer, but he isn’t completely retiring either.
“Well, I’m certainly working harder now than ever. Certain businesses, you kind of build them, pass them on or you exit. Hopefully my kids, we’ll see what their interests are, but I don’t think that I’ll be acting that much longer at the pace I am now,” he told Shanken, referencing his four children. “That’s for sure. Because that’s the most difficult thing.”
Wahlberg discussed why you became a producer as well as an actor and said that it was “out of necessity” because he “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.”
“If I’m gonna be in that position, I’d rather be behind the wheel,” he explained. “You’re going 100 miles-per-hour down the highway, do you want to be in the back seat with no seat belt or do you want to be behind the wheel?”
Wahlberg likely isn’t going to completely retire, however. Wahlberg said that he will likely continue to work with other great talents, but as a producer.
Earlier this year, Wahlberg announced that his family will be leaving Los Angeles and moving to Las Vegas and said that the decision was made “to be able to give my kids a better life and follow and pursue their dreams, whether it be my daughter as an equestrian, my son as a basketball player, my younger son as a golfer.”
“We came here to just kind of give ourselves a new look, a fresh start for the kids. There’s lot of opportunity here. I’m really excited about the future,” he added. “I saw Adele. I saw Bruno Mars. I’ve seen quite a few shows and been to lots of great restaurants. There’s so much to do in Vegas, and it’s so exciting.”
Wahlberg also announced earlier this year that he plans to tun Las Vegas into “Hollywood 2.0” and that he is looking to create 10,000 jobs with the new studio.
“We want to create lots of jobs here,” he said. “We’re always looking for new opportunities and new adventures. I hope to create of a lot of opportunity here.”
