The Lead Brother

Good acting often comes from real life experience, and in Mark Wahlberg’s case, he has plenty of real life experience. At the young age of 14, Wahlberg dropped out of high school and lived the life of a drug dealer. He would soon commit assault on two men and be sentenced to jail. It is there that he decided to turn his life around and become one of the most diverse actors in Hollywood.

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Simply put, Wahlberg can seemingly play every role in the acting industry. However, some of his best stem from his drug dealing and altercation filled past. In his role in the movie Contraband, he actually plays a world class international smuggler. Wahlberg’s knowledge of dealing and drugs allow this movie to come to life. His tough guy with a bad attitude role is similar to the one that he would have projected onto the streets during his dealing days.

He was cast into a similar role in the movie Four Brothers. Here he plays a feared and convicted felon who along with his brothers are determined to avenge the death of their mother who was shot in cold blood. This role would have hit Wahlberg close to come. In real life he was the youngest of 9 children and he was a convicted man. However, his experience is what makes this particular movie incredible.

Now as mentioned before, Wahlberg doesn’t just play the bad guy drug dealer role. He can play everything from being a football player to a cop and even to a loving teddy bear owner.

One of Wahlberg’s earlier roles was based on the true story of football player Vince Papale in the movie Invincible. Here Wahlberg showcased his ability to play a more serious role. Through his acting dedication, he makes it seem as if he has been playing football all his life, and he truly becomes invested in the team.

From here he would go on to show that he can also play the role of the good guy in The Departed. He plays a detective determined to take down a mob boss at whatever cost. This role was different in that Wahlberg wasn’t the center of attention. He had a supporting cast with the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon. However, this did not limit his acting abilities. He actually was nominated for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

Next, Wahlberg took over the comedy industry with movies like Ted and the Other Guys. In Ted, Wahlberg’s entire role is based on acting alongside a supposed real life teddy bear. This obviously has its challenges. Nevertheless, Wahlberg was able to turn the movie into a masterpiece.

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More recently, Wahlberg has starred in Lone Survivor as war hero Marcus Luttrell and as Cade Yeager as the lead role in the 4^th Transformers movie. Lately, he has even been producing some of his own movies and showing that he can truly do it all in the movie industry. He is making new experiences for himself that are turning him into an acting legend. 

I am Iron Man

Everyone loves a good comeback story. This can be seen all throughout today’s society. People adore stories about comeback stars like Rocky or even the Mighty Ducks. However, perhaps one of the most prominent comeback stories in real life is that of movie star Robert Downey Jr. One of Hollywood’s most prolific and successful stars was once an ex con and a cocaine addict.

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At the young age of 8 Downey was introduced to drugs by his father. Unfortunately, by the team he was in his 20s he had become addicted to them. For a time, the addiction was manageable and his addiction actually played into his roles. In a movie called Less Than Zero, Downey played a gay junkie who was struggling through life. This would be a partial glimpse into what the future may hold for the young Downey.

He was on the rise with movies like Chaplin. Here he portrayed the life of Charlie Chaplin, a British comedic actor. The role earned him a nomination for an Academy Award for best actor. However, this was in 1993. He would soon fall hard into drugs and lose himself.

Over the next several years, Downey became practically a nobody. He was arrested on multiple drug charges and spent some time in prison. However, eventually he would come clean after three years on probation. This step would set him up to be one of Hollywood’s greatest actors.

His big break came with the production of the hit film Iron Man. Here Downey’s work is truly incredible. He plays the role of genius billionaire philanthropist Tony Stark. He builds himself an iron suit and fights evil in his free time. Downey plays this part exactly how it is meant to be played. He is arrogant and cocky to the point where it often gets him in trouble. However, at the same time he still shows the loving and caring qualities that come with being a superhero. During this casting, Downey showed his determination by eating 5,000 calories per day and packing on 25 pounds of muscle. Overall, this became a truly versatile role.

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This part would cast him into two sequels and another series involving Iron Man entitled The Avengers. However, along the way Downey proved to play parts consisting of more than just a superhero. He would go on to play Sherlock Holmes in a duo of movies that showed his ability to be a witty and clever detective who can seemingly solve any crime. Additionally, he recently took on a role with co-star Robert Duvall in The Judge. Here he plays a lawyer determined to keep his aging father out of prison while the two have barely spoke in years. His emotions of hatred and at the same time love make the movie come to life.

              As of today, Downey has reached #8 on Forbes highest paid celebrities, making $80 million last year alone. He has since won the Academy Award for best actor and is without a doubt one of the best actors in Hollywood. Overall, his story truly is a one of superhero magnitude.

A Star Bigger than the Titanic

From a sunken ship to a shooting star, these are words that could be used to describe the career of the great Leonardo DiCaprio. The young and hopeful actor was fighting for a role in the movie industry by putting together a string of small time roles such as The Basketball Diaries and a modern day spin off of Romeo and Juliet. However, these roles would fit to prepare him to star in one of the most iconic and profitable movies of all time, Titanic.

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DiCaprio was cast as the young Jack Dawson. A poor boy who won a ticket on this iconic boat by chance. Here he falls in love and the story explains the tale of the two lovers in what appears to be the final moments of their lives as the ship sinks. DiCaprio’s passionate love and desperation allow the movie to come alive. He makes it appear as if he is truly fighting for his life. This allows the audience to connect with the story and feel the pain, suffering, and desperation of the victims of the Titanic in their final moments.

From here DiCaprio became one of Hollywood’s biggest sensations. One of his next major roles came along with co-star Tom Hanks in Catch Me if You Can. This role is extremely different from DiCaprio’s previous. Here he plays a young forger who becomes anything he wants at the risk of being caught by Detective Hanks. The versatility shown in this move is astounding. DiCaprio is able to play roles as a pilot, lawyer, and doctor all while barely staying out of reach of the police. The trailer demonstrating some of DiCaprio’s work in this movie can be seen here.

Following this movie, DiCaprio had several very successful movies including The Aviator, The Departed, Blood Diamond and Shutter Island. In this movies he played everything from a ruthless diamond hunter to a deranged detective. However, one of DiCaprio’s more interesting roles came with the production of Inception. Here he plays a con artist of sorts who develops stages of dreams in order to plant ideas inside people’s minds. This performance landed the movie inside the top 15 greatest movies of all time according to IMDB.

In more recent years, DiCaprio has taken on some of the most challenging roles of anyone. His ability to play a drugged up Wall Street broker in The Wolf of Wall Street is incredible. He admits that he has never done drugs, yet he plays the role as if he had been an addict his whole life. The fake seizures and blackouts he has while on these drugs make it seem unbelievably real.

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DiCaprio continues to show his dedication in his latest movie, The Revenant. In order to prepare for this role, DiCaprio took extreme measures. He claims to have slept in animal carcasses, trudged through freezing waters, and ate raw meat. All this just to make a movie come to life. Perhaps, his latest role will win him the Oscar that he so rightfully deserves, but which has eluded him so far.