Wahlberg to make cameo on ‘Entourage’

updated 12:21 p.m. ET Aug. 6, 2008

SAN DIEGO - Fall is full for Mark Wahlberg. The 37-year-old actor-producer has upcoming productions in film, television — and his own family.

Wahlberg will make a rare cameo appearance on "Entourage," the hit HBO series he executive produces, when the fifth season begins next month. And his third child with fiancee Rhea Durham is due in September.

In October, Wahlberg returns to his action-star roots with "Max Payne," a crime-thriller based on a gritty video game. Meanwhile, he'll start training for his role in "The Fighter," playing boxer "Irish" Mickey Ward.

"I'm thrilled," Wahlberg told The Associated Press in a recent interview. "Life couldn't be better."

He followed up his Oscar-nominated performance in "The Departed" with a pair of gun-toting parts, plus softer roles in M. Night Shyamalan's "The Happening" and Peter Jackson's anticipated interpretation of the best-seller "The Lovely Bones," due out next year. But "Max Payne" spoke directly to Wahlberg's "guy mentality," he said.

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"This is the kind of movie I would run out to see," he said. "The kind of movies I watch are definitely guys' movies. ... This is 'Departed.' This is 'Fear.' This is all those characters times 10."

Wahlberg turned to television to engage his playful side.

"I did one other cameo in the (‘Entourage') pilot but I didn't get to do a scene with Jeremy Piven," Wahlberg said. "This time it's me and Piven going at it, so it was fun."

Despite his crammed calendar, Wahlberg did make time to take in a few summer superhero flicks, including "The Dark Knight" and "Iron Man."

And he'd love to see a real-life movie version of "Aquaman," which appeared in fictional form on "Entourage."

"People automatically assumed that I was going to really make that movie," Wahlberg said. "My agent was even crazy enough to try to get Jim Cameron to direct it."

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