Mark Wahlberg grew up in Dorchester, a working-class neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. He was the youngest of nine children in a Catholic family; his parents were Alma and Donald Wahlberg, and his early years in Dorchester were marked by family hardship, including his parents’ divorce when he was about 11.

Key points:

• Birthplace and upbringing: Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts.

• Family background: large, nine children; parents’ divorce when he was 11.

• Early life path: troubled adolescence leading to a stint in juvenile detention before turning toward music and acting.

If you’d like, I can pull concise biographical lines from multiple sources for citation or provide a brief timeline of his early life events.