He was born in June, 1971 in Boston. He had a Roma Catholic upbringing. He received a high school diploma in 2013. But, he never did his graduation. He started as a music band performer and was known as Marky Mark. But, he dropped this name as he joined films.

He is currently popular for acting in Boogie Nights and a war comedy Three Kings. He has also done films like Planet of Apes, The Perfect Storm, The Italian Job, Rock Star etc. He was nominated for Academy Awards in the category of Best Supporting Actor for the movie The Departed which was a crime drama. Presently he has done films like Lone survivor, Ted, Transformers: Age of Extinction etc.  He has also been a producer for a number of television series and period dramas.

He has produced Entourage from 2004-2011, Board Empire from 2009-2014 and How to make it in America. He was also the producer of the reality show Breaking Boston. He is very popular for his tattoos. He has got MW tattoo which are his own initials along with last name in the upper right arm and designed a Bob Marley tattoo along with “One Love”. But, currently he has decided to remove all his tattoos specially to discourage his kids from getting inked.