that you read about? >> not usually, unless it's a divorce settlement. >> piers: your movies glossed $1.5 billion so you're not exactly on the bread line, are you? >> no, no. i'm very fortunate and blessed. thank you. >> piers: you said when you got to 40, you would retire and play golf. what happened? you're 40. >> my golf game is crap. it really is. it's bad. you know, i -- i was just working at such a pace that i really felt like i need to figure out ways to spend more time with my family. being off on location on is very difficult. 50 is the new 40. talk to me in 10 years. >> how did you feel turning 40? when i remember you as markey mark and storming europe and britain and your brother and new kids and so on, i remember those years very vividly sxrorted on them for british newspapers. you've come a long way. that's 20 years ago. >> i've been very fortunate. i had no desire to be in the movies whatsoever. i was offered a couple roles that turned me off on the idea of making movies and i met penny marshall and she changed everything for me. after i made that first movie, i didn't want to do anything else. >> piers: looking at you now, it's hard to remember the rapper markey mark. there you are in your very emack late suit, the executive haircut, it's all looking pretty grown-up, if you don't mind me saying. >> i have a large team that made me over. i've just grown up. i've been very fortunate. >> piers: you feel you have? >> yes, and certainly parenthood and being a husband forces you to. >> piers: you had an extraordinary upbringing. i actually went to dorchester once. >> you made it back? >> piers: i made it back. it felt like tough streets. you've been honest and open about those days. when you look back on it, how tough was it in reality, do you think? >> it depends. i always wanted to be one of the guys, so in order to be one of the guys and have that respect, you had to do things that were a little more dangerous. as soon as i ended up being incarcerated, i said this is not the life for me. >> piers: i heard you say there was a sense of inevitably about that. three of your brothers went to prison, your sister was in and out of prison. you felt like this was going to happen and be part of your life. >> when i arrived, i thought i was with those guys i always wanted to be like and that i look up to. i realized that i had this false idea of what was cool and important. the guys i should is focused on and looking up to was the guy like mike joyce who worked at the boys club for 20 some odd years. >> piers: you were a brawler. you got in -- you were a coke addict at 13, 14. you got into gang stuff, just about everything immeasurable, and you had what looked like from the outside to be this huge ephiany. as you say, coming from that prison experience, you were very lucky you met this catholic priest that guided you. what was going through your minds. for a lot of people going to prison becomes the start of the rest of their lives and is not pretty. how did you make that break, to get out of that the culture? >> i had to make the choice personally and focus on my faith and my faith has allowed me to overcome a lot of things and hard work. nothing comes easy, especially when you have your back against the wall and you have a lot going against you. i want it had it to prove through people that i was going to change and make a positive impact on the community that i come from. that's why i do so much youth work with on our foundation and inner city kids and partnering with taco bell in the graduate to go program. i could not forget about where i came from and find myself in this position without helping and giving back. >> piers: when that prison door shuts for the first time and you're in the cell, can you remember how you felt? >> of course, of course. i was 17 at the time, and i was probably about 5'3" and 115 pounds. it was pretty scary. then again, there was a lot of neighborhood guys there. i had a few confrontations and altercations, but it was really a matter of, okay, do you want to get in jail and getting high and doing that whole thing, or do i focus and start going to church and get out of here and never look back. >> piers: did your behavioral pattern change dramatically when you came snout. >> it did, because it's hard because you're back in the strirmt. its not like you can say i grew up in this bad place and i don't want to be in a bad place, i'm going to move to california and new york. it makes it more difficult, because now you're not one of the guys. if you're not with them, you're against them. that is difficult going to the train station to try to go to work and have a real job, but i had to face them and find out who your real friends are. looking back, you know, those guys have to respect me for what i did. >> piers: it takes great strength of character. it's not an easy thing to do to go against the grain. >> my parents tried to instill it in all of us. >> piers: do you go back to dorchester? >> often, yes. i was at the boys club. weerp opening a film and animation staud yo at the boys club i grew up. >> piers: how do you feel and what kind of reaction do you get sf. >> it's great because inspear kids to pursue their dreams. if i said i wanted to be an actor or artist, that's like saying you want to be a cop or worse because it wasn't cool. if you wanted to an athlete, that was fine and either our a gangster or a cop. now kids are inspired. >> piers: what was your ambition? >> i wanted to be an athlete, and then when i went to -- i was supposed to start high school, and my school didn't have a gym or any sports program whatsoever. that was pretty much it. i was on the streets doing my thing. >> piers: rough though it was and tough, what were the things that you got from that life sometime which have been of benefit to you in the new world na you have? >> well, that real-life experience is so much more powerful, i think, in my job especially as an actor than anything and also in my business approach. i was always a hustler and multi-tasker. even when i was doing stuff and selling drugs, i kept a real job so my mother wouldn't question where i got the money, and how did i get a car the same day i got my license. i have so much real life experience to draw on, like this role in "contraband." when i did "the departed," do you want to meet the cops? i know these cops and the world better than anybody. let me do my thing. that has been a plus, to use those things now positively. >> piers: are you a tough negotiator? >> i'm not. i just make sure that my agent is and my manager. i say yes all day long. >> piers: i've never met you, but i would imagine you can be pretty uncompromising? >> in my beliefs and in my position when if comes to certain things, my creativity, yes. you do my a favor, i'll do awe favor. i don't like asking for favors, but i like giving favors. >> do the streets ever leave you? >> no, absolutely not. you don't want them to, anyway. you have to have that to tap back into that if need be. especially now being a father of four kids and two beautiful daughters. >> this is a fascinating wait your life has evolved. i read you go to catholic mass every day? >> no, but i definitely go to the church every day. i get in fl for 15, 20 minutes to say prayers. >> piers: what does it bring you? >> a focus on what's important and a reminder every day of what i need to do and focus on and stay away from. >> when you pray what do you pray for? >> i don't pray for success at the box office. you know, i pray to be a good servant to god, a father, a husband, a son, a friend, a brother and uncle, a good neighbor and good leader to those that look up to me and a good follower to those serving god and doing the right thing and people i look up to and try to emulate. >> piers: one of the final parts your rehabilitation has been the removal of your tattoos. how are you getting on? >> it's a lot more painful than i thought and it takes longer than i thought. the doctor told me five to seven visits, and i've been over 30 times. i'm going back this week. they're all there but just faded. i don't give up on anything. >> piers: you took both your sons to watch -- >> my oldest daughter and son. >> piers: it's so agonizing, you wanted them to see the pain so they don't have them. >> they see it afterwards because i'm wrapped luke upper like a mummy and there's blood everywhere and scabs. i don't want them getting tattoos. >> piers: why are you putting yourself through all this agony? >> they all have meaning to me, but both personally and professionally it was a pain in the butt professionally when we did the fighter and putting on makeup all the time and covering it up. i shouldn't have marked my body that way, you know. i need to my wear my faith around my neck or have it permanently tattooed there. it's in my heart. >> piers: "contraband" is a raw movie. terrific to watch. i want to talk about the parallels with your life and the character you play in the film. 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(phone ringing) chase sapphire preferred, this is julie in springfield. i'm one drink away from the worst day of my life. i'm not the only one sitting in the circle with that same problem, right? that's you will you got to do is work the steps. >> i'm not doing another run. >> i can probably get us some money, no problem. >> it's not going away, chris. >> piers: a clip from "contraband." you play this reformed smuggler who gets sucked back in. his relative is sucked into the world. your character goes back into that murky world to try and save him. >> my character actually loves the world. it's a thrill. but he has a wife and two children, and his father is doing life in prison for smuggling. his brother-in-law is not the sharpest tool in the shed, and he's running drugs for dangerous people. when customs boards the boat, he has to dump it. not only do they want the money, but the street value of it, not the buy money back. they threaten to go after my and my kids p if he doesn't pay and kill him. i end up going to panama on a container ship and a lot of crazy things happen. what i loved about the character, he's very tough and physical. he's very smart. he has to do things in a extra way, and all these different things that happen along the way. i thought it was kocool. >> piers: he has a moral, ethical dilemma every step of the way. it's a very raw movie, isn't it? >> i love people start asking p me, i wonder why i started finding myself rooting for you and you're a criminal. i'm not as bad as other guy says in the movie. >> piers: your character is trying to protect him. >> would you do anything to protect your family? >> piers: it's an sfwing moral dilemma. how far would you go to help a relative in that position? i don't know the answer. do you know the answer? >> you know, i probably -- they'd be probably the only reason i had to go back to prison, if i had to do something to protect my family, and there was no other means of doing it. >> piers: what does your family make of your career path? >> it depends what part of my family. >> piers: what are the positive parts and negatives? >> my kids could care less, and they hate when people come up to us in public, the paparazzi and stuff like that. my family members are very proud of me. my wife knows how hard i work to provide for our family and our future, but most proud my mother and my dad before he passed away. they were most proud of the fact that i was committed to my family first, to my wife and children. that was the most important part. >> you hinted before that your family, your parents in particular, when they brought you up -- you're one of nine kids. it they tried to sort of keep you in line, but clearly weren't that successful. what have you learned as a parent from that experience? obviously, it's easier for you. >> my parents both worked two jobs and were never home. we were left to our own devices, and you go outside and trouble is it everywhere. the focus is to keep them busy and be involved in every aspect of their lives and talk to them about everything. it's the most important role as father and husband, and i will not fail. >> your wife doesn't like you doing sex scenes. >> yes, no do i. >> piers: the character had to have one. you did a deal not to have one, about the the deal was you would still appear naked on screen. is that right? >> yeah, how did you hear about that? >> piers: tell me about the deal. >> well, waited until we were kind of in the film, and i kept talking to the director, they're going on for seven years they don't have that sex anymore. she's an actress in the movie and has a sex scene with somebody else that makes me go wild, i fall off the wagon and ruin her evening and become a complete mess. i was like i don't think we need that, you know. maybe a kiss, but it's not like it's hot and heavy like it was when they met. he knew something was up. so then, i said, you know -- there was another scene where at end i have to take a bath, and it was supposed to be a shot of me in the shower and you saw my head and trying to scrub away all had this dirt and filth i experienced and cleanse myself before i go to prison. next thing you know, that scene was this whole thing, me getting undressed and i was stark naked for a good eight hours. >> piers: the deal was to keep your wife happy? >> yes. i don't like doing it either. it's part of the job. she knows i'm professional. it's uncomfortable and awkward. i don't like doing it. >> piers: you've worked with some of the greats in hollywood. what have you learned about acting? who do you like out in the acting world. >> daniel day-lewis, russell cro crowe, denzel washington. they're the matinee idol, very beautiful actors, and then they're the kind of more real, gritty kind of guys i identify with. i grew up watching steve mcqueen, james cagney, john garfield, robert ryan, guys like that. i couldn't connect to the karc e grants of the world. i think less is more. i think you need to play parts that you're believable in. that helps. >> piers: you said "entourage" is over. >> very. >> piers: i'm distraught. >> it was bittersweet, you know. we never thought the show would last that long. the fact that it did, you felt like, you know, it will never end. then it came to an end, but we're pushing thoord get the movie made. >> it's interesting how it can't be like that? it's like that. >> that was really the toned down version of what my life was like when i was young and crazy. >> piers: what do you think the basic shallowness of hollywood? the fact that if you're a hot star, everyone's crawling all over you, kissing ass. the moment it goes cold, boom -- >> that's why you need people around you to keep you grounded. people say why do you have your friends around working on a movie, i hire a friend. >> piers: what's a big dream role for you, if you have one out there if you think if if i get the chance, that's what i want to do? >> play you. no. >> piers: that's a lofty ambition. >> i don't know. i haven't really thought about it. >> piers: when we come back from the break, let's talk about the foundation how you are trying to stop kids from opting out of school that's the main tenor of th this. since ameriprise financial was founded back in 1894, they've been committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times. good times. never taking a bailout. there when you need them. helping millions of americans over the centuries. the strength of a global financial leader. the heart of a one-to-one relationship. together for your future. ♪ ♪ ( whirring and crackling sounds ) man: assembly lines that fix themselves. the most innovative companies are doing things they never could before, by building on the cisco intelligent network. on my journey across america, i've learned that when you ask someone in texas if they want "big" savings on car insurance, it's a bit like asking if they want a big hat... ...'scuse me... ...or a big steak... ...or big hair... i think we have our answer. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. wellu'reat aen - with he daccoun aen - with in lminu rns.com/oregula one of the leading factor in the future success, a high school diploma. to bad 1 in 3 teen fails to graduate. what can one person do to help? takes one dollar to help create a lasts change in a teen's life. you can empower those teens with the skills necessary to reach graduation. that's what one person can could. are you the one? >> piers: that's a public service announcement. this is specifically to end dropout rates in schools, and the stats are incredible. 7,200 kids a day drop out of school. what i found really absorbing is when you get down to the reasons they give. the number one reason to get a job to support themselves or a family, not keeping up with schoolwork, boredom, negative peer pressure, lack of support, motivation and safety and bullying. a third of these kids that drop out is almost from necessity. >> yeah. >> piers: they need money. how do you tackle that as a government? if you're president obama trying to deal with this obviously muj problem, what do you do about that problem? that part of it? the need to finance a family? >> it's extremely difficult. look at the economy and the way it is. when i was going to school, i knew how to read, write, add and subtract and said what else do i need? he can't go to college. i can't afford to go to college or get a scholarship. what do i do? i might as well quit school and start working? i started working at 14. a lot of families are facing with that on a daily basis. i think if i had the answer to that question, i'd be in the office. >> piers: is it a slight problem when you face these kids and they know what you did, and they say, look at you. you dropped out and went to prison and now you're a billion dollar movie star. >> i say the odds of you doing that are slim to none. if i fail and my career ends tomorrow, i don't have anything to fall back on. i want to send my kids out to work. they get it and know. i talk to them very straightforward. there's my story, and then there's 20 million kids and most of my friends are either dead or in jail. that's the reality. they live in that world and get it and know. if there's anything you want to know, i am proof you can do that. i don't think by dropping out of school and starting today is the best idea, because it's not a sprint. it's a marathon. if you get your education, if you can get the he highest education possible, get