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Mark Wahlberg is coming to TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, and he wants to talk about your work, not his

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Why This Matters

TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 will feature Mark Wahlberg in a main-stage fireside chat with Keebeck Wealth Management CEO Bruce K. Lee, focused on his transition from actor to operator and investor. It reflects the continued blurring of celebrity, brand-building, and startup capital, with Wahlberg's attention increasingly on healthcare and wellness startups. For founders, it signals another route to capital and distribution beyond traditional VC.

Key Takeaways

Let’s just get this out of the way: Mark Wahlberg is as A-list as it gets. He broke out in 1997’s “Boogie Nights,” and in the nearly three decades since, he’s built one of the highest-wattage careers in Hollywood: two Academy Award nominations, a Golden Globe nod for “The Fighter,” multiple Emmy nominations as a producer (HBO’s “Entourage” among them), and a filmography that spans crime dramas, comedies, and action blockbusters. Right now, he’s back on screen in “By Any Means,” a manhunt thriller set during the 1966 Mississippi civil rights killings.

He’s also signaling where he’s increasingly turning his attention. Wahlberg will sit down with Bruce K. Lee, Founder and CEO of Keebeck Wealth Management, on the main stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 to talk about his own progression. Grab your ticket here so you don’t miss a moment of this session and Disrupt 2026. Ticket prices increase on September 25.

Image Credits:TechCrunch

From Hollywood to business venture

His acting career is really just part of the picture. Over the past two decades, Wahlberg has built a production company, a restaurant chain, apparel and fitness ventures, a slate of angel investments, and the now 25-year-old Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation, which supports inner-city kids and teens. He’s used his Hollywood success to launch big projects well outside the movie business — and in a fireside chat at this year’s Disrupt, he’s going to give us a peek into how.

Building an investing mindset

Wahlberg, who’s leaned almost entirely on entrepreneurial instinct about people, culture, products, and markets, is now someone who’s been building institutional-level investing discipline, with Lee as his guide, and with a growing focus on healthcare and wellness startups. It’s a rare, unvarnished look at how someone with Wahlberg’s cultural intelligence has worked his way into some of the most sophisticated rooms in business and finance.

That includes where high-profile entertainers and athletes sometimes get it wrong (Wahlberg is candid about having had to unlearn some of his own old instincts); how he’s used the trust built over a massive career to drive access and deal flow; and which technologies he’s most focused on right now and why.

Go inside Wahlberg’s playbook

If you’ve watched Wahlberg build brands, franchises, and businesses over the past decade and wondered, “Who is this guy?”—you won’t want to miss this conversation. Mistakes, mentorship, the mechanics of leveling up in a competitive investing landscape—we’ll cover it all at Disrupt.

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