Mark Wahlberg has worked as a rapper, businessman, and Hollywood star, but now says acting is “the most difficult”

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Mark Wahlberg

Mark Wahlberg is mulling over his future in Hollywood.

In a recent video interview with Cigar Aficionado’s Marvin R. Shaken, the Oscar-nominated actor revealed, “I don’t think that I’ll be acting that much longer at the pace I am now.”

In a conversation spanning his decades of work as a movie star and producer, Wahlberg, 52, called acting “the most difficult thing.”

“I’m certainly working harder now than ever. Certain businesses, you kind of build them, pass them on or you exit,” he said.

Of his children — Ella, 20, Michael, 17, Brendan, 14 and Grace, 13, who he shares with wife Rhea Durham, 44 — the Boogie Nights star added, “we’ll see what their interests are.”

The family relocated from California to Nevada, he revealed in 2022. “Every free moment that I have, I’m at home,” he told The Talk at the time.

John Shearer/WireImage Mark Wahlberg and wife Rhea Durham with their children in 2010

Earlier this year, Wahlberg told E! News his kids are “thriving” in their Las Vegas home: “I spent lots of time in L.A. pursuing my interests and my career, and now it’s time for them to pursue theirs.”

In contrast to last year’s three movie projects — Uncharted costarring Tom Holland, Me Time costarring Kevin Hart and Father Stu costarring Mel Gibson — Wahlberg hasn’t appeared as an actor onscreen this year. Among his recent producing credits are Father Stu, the Oscar De La Hoya docuseries The Golden Boy and the upcoming movies The Union, The Six Billion Dollar Man and The Family Plan.

Nominated for Academy Awards for his supporting performance in 2006’s The Departed and as producer of 2010’s Best Picture nominee The Fighter, Wahlberg has brought such hits as Ballers, Entourage, Boardwalk Empire, Deepwater Horizon and Instant Family to the big and small screens.

“I started producing out of necessity,” he told Cigar Aficionado ahead of his appearance on the magazine’s September cover. “I didn’t want to sit around waiting for Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise, or whoever was already established before me and were the guys at the time — and Leo [DiCaprio] — to go and pass on a movie, until I could get my hands on it.”

Of stepping back from acting work, he added that he’d rather be “behind the wheel” on film and TV projects. “You’re going 100 miles-per-hour down the highway, do you want to be in the back seat with no seat belt or do you want to be behind the wheel?”

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Mark Wahlberg

Wahlberg launched his scripted production company, Closest to the Hole, in 2004. Unrealistic Ideas, his production company for unscripted work, produced the Emmy-nominated docuseries McMillion$.

The multihyphenate also has an ownership stake in Flecha Azul Tequila, serves as chief brand officer of fitness company F45 Training, and partners with Catholic prayer app Hallow. Among his Columbus, Ohio-area car dealerships is Mark Wahlberg Chevrolet of Avon.

This June, Wahlberg told PEOPLE that he “wanted to do my own thing” with another entrepreneurial effort, sport utility gear brand MUNICIPAL. “I’ve partnered up with various brands in the past, but in order to make something I felt was cool and functional, and obviously, I really love building brands.”

He added that his age is on his mind these days. “I’m not ignorant to the fact that I’m definitely past the halfway point… those are things that I definitely think about.”