PLANET OF THE APES (2001) star MARK WAHLBERG has blamed his Irish roots for his teenage life of crime. The tearaway actor was born into a working class Irish Catholic family in Boston.

He says, "Maybe it's the Irish blood in me, but crime was part of growing up for me. " Wahlberg spent two months in jail after being convicted of attacking two Vietnamese men and trying to steal their case of beer.

He adds, "I come from a large family - three sisters and five brothers - and we lived in a three-bedroomed apartment. What was I going to do in those circumstances, write poetry?" (RXT/IM/NFA)

Source: WENN