Mark Wahlberg chooses tough guy roles to impress his friends.
The 39-year-old actor - whose troubled youth included drug use, antisocial behavior and a stint in jail as a teenager for assault -admitted he never wants to appear "vulnerable" in front of his friends.
He said: "I am a bit self-conscious. I grew up in a tough neighborhood and it's cool if you're playing a tough guy, but playing the vulnerable guy, the guy who doesn't win and who doesn't get the girl, that is always in the back of my minds as a potential concern.
"Too often I have wanted approval from my peers back home and respect from guys in general but as an actor you've got to be able to do different things."
Mark admitted he agonized over his breakout role as porn star Dirk Diggler in 'Boogie Nights' before deciding he had to take it for the sake of his career.
He told Empire magazine: "That's why 'Boogie Nights' was such a pivotal role for me. He was a great part in a great movie, doing something that no-one expected of me, because I'd never played a naïve, innocent young kid and it was like, 'What would people think of me?'
"It is no problem playing a bad a*s or a hard guy - I love doing that - but I decided I wanted to be an actor and I gave it a shot. I had to do different roles and different films, otherwise I could have just settled for a TV show and been done with it."
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