Given the immense talent of some of the world’s most famous and beloved actors, it can be easy to forget that these men and women are human, and therefore are flawed just like the rest of us. Yet some are little more flawed than others, and have done heinous things in their past that contradict their more “polished” roles on the screen. Here are some shocking crimes committed by some of the world’s most famous actors.
1. Will Smith – Assault
Even though so many of his vibrant, friendly, and lovable on-screen characters suggest otherwise, the superstar actor Will Smith actually has a dark and violent past. In 1989, when he was only 20, the actor was part of a group of men that viciously assaulted a man—leaving him almost blind.
Although he was able to avoid jail time because the charges were dropped, he remembers the night he spent in jail as being the “worst night of his life.” And to make matters worse, he was apparently woken up constantly in jail by inmates who wanted an autograph from the budding star.
Sometimes it takes a dark and despicable act to see the light, which is apparently what happened to Smith, since by all accounts he now lives a happy, peaceful life.
2. Mark Wahlberg – Drugs, Assault
It’s no coincidence that Wahlberg often plays violent, mean, and somewhat disturbed characters. The actor has an incredibly violent and dark past, starting in his early youth. Once he reached the age of just thirteen, Wahlberg had already had several run-ins with the Boston Police (reportedly around 24 total), many of which were for drug-related crimes.
While addicted to a range of drugs including cocaine, Wahlberg seemed unwilling or unable to alter his violent behavior, and when he reached fifteen he was charged in two separate instances of throwing rocks at African American school children while shouting racial slurs.
Things seemed to only get worse for Wahlberg. When he was sixteen, he and a group of teens were charged with attempted murder after they assaulted two Vietnamese men by beating them over the head with a stick. Somehow, the troubled actor managed to serve only forty-five days out of a two-year sentence.