Mark Wahlberg drops bid to be pardoned for assault

"This has been my life for the past 27 years. This is what I think about every day." Photo / Getty

Mark Wahlberg has dropped his bid to be pardoned for his 1988 assault conviction

The actor - who applied for the pardon in 2014 - was 16 years old when he hit a Vietnamese man in the head with a stick while trying to steal alcohol and served 45 days of his two-year sentence in an adult prison.

However, a Massachusetts Parole Board spokesman told the New York Post's Page Six that the 45-year-old actor "did not respond to a letter asking if he wished to keep his petition open, so the matter has been closed".

American actor and rapper Mark Wahlberg (aka Marky Mark) poses for a photo at a party at the Limelight nightclub in February 1992 in New York City, New York. Photo / Getty

Mark had applied to the Governor of Massachusetts for a pardon insisting he is a model citizen compared to the troubled individual he was at the time the attack took place.

Mark previously said getting the pardon was important to him because it would be proof of how he has successfully rehabilitated himself as a person.

The actor - who is married to fashion model Rhea Durham, with whom he has four children - is a devout Catholic, works with disadvantaged youngsters and is supporting old friends of his who have fallen on hard times and he wants to leave his bad boy tag in the past.

Marky Mark in 1991 in Chicago. Photo / Getty

Discussing his pardon request last year, he said:

"This has been my life for the past 27 years. This is what I think about every day ... It does bother me a bit that people say, 'Oh, now that he's a successful celebrity he feels he's entitled to a clean slate.' This is my life ... People think, well now it's a new story, but it's really still the same story.

Actor Mark Wahlberg with wife Rhea Durham and their children attend the ceremony where he was honored with a Star on The Hollywood Walk Of Fame. Photo / Getty

If you ever go back to read any profile or magazine piece I've done, it's always the bad boy turned good."

- Bang! Showbiz