5. Mark Wahlberg
Back when he was Marky Mark and he was followed by a Funky Bunch, Mark Wahlberg was the bad boy of the music scene (he was, by all accounts, a VERY bad boy). When he decided to turn his hand to acting it seemed fairly transparent: just another vapid musician who wanted to see himself on the big screen. The fact that he ended up being a better actor than he ever was a musician was surprising, but not unwelcome. (It’s worth noting that he really wasn’t much of a musician – infer from that what you will.)
Wahlberg’s acting career has seen him critically praised on multiple occasions. Perhaps the most notable of these was The Departed, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. In light of these successes, Wahlberg has seen himself become one of Hollywood’s most dependable leading men, consistently appearing in big-budget movies and franchises alongside other major stars.
The thing is, Wahlberg really isn’t all that talented. He mostly just seems vaguely confused and emotionally incompetent, and one of his biggest strengths is playing characters who are distinctly unpleasant (accidentally or otherwise). In fact, despite his successes, his list of credits is actually stuffed with stinkers: for every Boogie Nights, there’s a Me Time, and for every The Fighter, there’s a Planet of the Apes. To put it simply, Mark Wahlberg isn’t a bad actor, but he really doesn’t deserve the number of opportunities he’s been given, and he really isn’t as talented as people give him credit for.