Wahlberg's 'Four Brothers'

In the new film, "Four Brothers," Mark Wahlberg plays the oldest and toughest of multiracial adopted siblings who return home for their mother's funeral and seek to avenge her murder.

"The Mercer brothers are tough, street-smart guys," says Wahlberg. He visits The Early Show Friday to discuss his new film.

After their adoptive mother is murdered during a grocery store holdup, the Mercer brothers - hotheaded Bobby (Mark Wahlberg), ladies' man Angel (Tyrese Gibson), family man and businessman Jeremiah (André Benjamin), and hard rocking Jack (Garrett Hedlund) - reunite to take the matter of her death into their own hands.

Academy Award-nominated director John Singleton ("Boyz N the Hood"), who directs the film, says, "Even in lawless societies, there's a code - a set of rules that people live by. Wrongs still have to be made right. In our film, each of the Mercer brothers has gone his own way, but they all come back together to make right the wrong of their mother's death. What unites the brothers is the code instilled in them by their mother."

For Wahlberg, the character of Bobby Mercer is, in many ways, very close to his heart.

"I grew up in a very poor neighborhood, the youngest of nine kids and was constantly surrounded by family, mostly brothers," he says. "This feels very much like home to me; it feels like going back in time, except that now I'm the oldest, which I love - now I'm the boss. I'm making all the rules. I'm the one beating everyone else up!"

"Four Brothers" is being released by Paramount Pictures, which is owned by the same parent company as CBS.

Some Facts About Mark Wahlberg

• Born Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg in Dorchester, Mass., on June 5, 1971, the youngest of nine children.
• In 1984, Wahlberg started break dancing on Boston streets. Around this time, he dropped out of ninth grade.
• In 1985, he and brother Donnie became the first two members of the teen vocal group, New Kids on the Block.
• In 1986, unwilling to take singing lessons, Wahlberg quit NKOTB.
• In 1988, Wahlberg was jailed for 45 days for a drug-addled attack on a Vietnamese man.
• In 1991, he and his band, The Funky Bunch, release a debut platinum album "Music for the People."
• In 1992, Wahlberg signed a two-year contract as a Calvin Klein underwear model.
• In 1993, Wahlberg made his television-movie acting debut in USA's "The Substitute."
• In 1994, he made his film debut with a featured acting role in "Renaissance Man."
• In 1995, Wahlberg had a breakthrough screen role as Mickey, the hot-tempered best friend of Leonardo DiCaprio's Jim Carroll in "The Basketball Diaries."
• In 1996, the actor starred in the teen thriller "Fear."
• In 1997, Wahlberg had a starring role of an Irish con man in the little-seen independent "Traveller;" he played a 1970s porno star in Paul Thomas Anderson's "Boogie Nights."
• In 1998, Wahlberg starred alongside Antonio Sabato Jr., Lou Diamond Phillips and Bokeem Woodbine in the action comedy "The Big Hit."
• In 1999, he played an idealistic New York police recruit on the Asian gang beat opposite Chow Yun Fat's veteran cop in the crime thriller "The Corruptor;" Teamed with George Clooney and Ice Cube in David O Russell's acclaimed Gulf War chronicle "Three Kings."
• In 2000, Wahlberg reunited with Clooney for a fact-based sea thriller "The Perfect Storm;" Starred in the New York City-set crime drama feature "The Yards."
• In 2001, Wahlberg starred as a salesman who becomes a heavy metal rock star in the comedy "Rock Star;" Starred in remake of "Planet of the Apes."
• In 2001, Wahlberg was cast alongside Clooney in the remake of "Ocean's Eleven," but later he dropped out of the production, because of the shooting schedule of "Planet Of The Apes;" replaced by Matt Damon.
• In 2002, he co-starred in "The Truth About Charlie," a remake of "Charade."
• In 2003, he steps into a role first played by Michael Caine in the remake of "The Italian Job."
• In 2004, he plays a fireman pondering deep philosophical questions in a retail superstore in "I Heart Huckabees."