When the world first met Mark Wahlberg, he was doing bicep curls with cinder blocks and urging us to “feel the vibration.” It was the early 90s, a time when Cross Colors and Z Cavaricci were the garb of choice, the running man was how you got honeys to notice you on the dance floor, and acts like Color Me Badd and NKOTB laid the groundwork for the N’Syncs of today.

Marky Mark and his funky bunch enjoyed their brief stint in the limelight in this mini teen-pop explosion. But alas, the onset of the grunge and gangsta rap movements spelled the end of Wahlberg’s music career, and he seemed destined to fade with the likes of Gerardo and Right Said Fred. Much to the chagrin of the entertainment industry, however, Wahlberg resurfaced as an actor in 1995’s acclaimed “Basketball Diaries” and the following year in “Fear.”

But Mark’s true breakthrough didn’t come until 1997 when he starred in “Boogie Nights,” Paul Thomas Anderson’s ode to the divinely decadent porn industry of the late 70s and early 80s. Wahlberg’s character was a winking nod to porn godfather John Holmes, from both men’s voracious appetite for cocaine to the veritable tree trunks they kept tucked away in their Levi’s. Backed by an inhumanely talented supporting cast (William H. Macy, Don Cheadle and Julianne Moore just to name a few), Wahlberg was able to fully throw himself into the wide-eyed, and then desperate man that was Dirk Diggler. His performance solidified his place among Hollywood’s rising stars and paved the way for roles in more outstanding films like “Three Kings.”

Of all the dime-a-dozen pop stars of the early 90s, Marky Mark Wahlberg seemed to be one of the least likely to still be alive and kicking a decade later. But even if he never makes a quality film again, Wahlberg can at least take satisfaction in the fact that he didn’t turn out like fellow teen idol/musician-turned-actor Vanilla Ice, who is currently sulking in his Miami shanty, crying and watching “Cool as Ice” on a continuous loop.