Donnie
Wahlberg
 Donnie
Wahlberg was born in Boston, Massachussetts, on August 17, 1969.
His full name is Donald Edmond Wahlberg, Jr. He grew up in
the rough Boston neighborhood of Dorchester in a family of nine
children. At the age of 14, he helped form the hugely successful
band, 'New Kids on the Block'. The last time the band performed
was in 1994 and Donnie then set out on an acting career. A key
supporting role in "Ransom" (1996), followed by a brief but powerful
performance in "The Sixth Sense" (1999) led to a starring role in HBO's
"Band of Brothers" (2001). He and his wife, Kim Fey, have two sons,
Xavier and Elijah.
Donnie portrays Detective Joel Stevens, a role especially written for
him by "Boomtown" creator, Graham Yost.
On the
surface, Detective Joel Stevens has a picture-perfect life.
Everything comes easy to him - an empathetic and idealistic cop, his rise in the
ranks of the police department has generated envy and resentment. He's
happily married and has a beautiful little boy. But, largely unknown by
his fellow officers and friends, his wife (Kelly) attempted suicide
after the death of their second child and continues to suffer from
depression. Determined
to stand by her, he still finds himself attracted to another woman
(Teresa Ortiz).
Donnie describes Joel:
"Joel is as close to perfect on
the outside as one can be. He’s smart,
gifted, and professional. All of his flaws are hidden, and the
challenge
for him is to keep them hidden. My challenge as an actor is to
communicate
the struggle underneath the perfection, and to find the moments where
Joel’s
internal flaws are glimpsed by the audience. It’s certainly the most
challenging
role I’ve had so far."
''I'm always playing a messed-up character. Joel is messed up,
but nobody knows it. His wife is suffering from severe postpartum
depression and
is blaming me because my character is really, really dedicated to the
job.
Our baby died, which is sad."
"It's always going to be
challenging to play this character because he's
not the jolly, jokey guy. He has layers. I think you'll see more sides
of
him in time that will always be surprising because you never know where
he's going to come from.''
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