At 42, Mark Wahlberg graduates high school and is excited to be part of the Class of 2013.

Mark Wahlberg, twice nominated for an Oscar, has picked up an award he's wanted for a long time: his high school diploma.

The 42-year-old, who dropped out of school in ninth grade after being charged with attempted murder, was motivated to graduate by his four children, People said. He said he didn't want them wondering why they needed to do something he'd neglected.

He took online classes, the hardest of which was math, he said. He hired a tutor and studied between takes on "Two Guns," keeping his project a secret, including from costar Denzel Washington.

"I wondered, 'Why didn't I do it when I was there?' It's so much harder ... going back and trying to do all these difficult tasks," he told the magazine Monday in Irvine at an event for the Taco Bell Foundation for Teens, where he presented scholarships. 

(On that attempted murder charge, Wahlberg eventually pleaded guilty to assault, got a two-year sentence behind bars and served 45 days.)

The diploma was awarded back in June, so the "Ted" star is Class of 2013. He said he might go on to college, where he could study things related to the career he already has going.

Also hopping on the high-school graduate train recently: Charlie Sheen, 48, who finally picked up his paper from Santa Monica High School, where he said he'd been a credit and a half shy for 30 years.

Charlie, however, didn't appear to do any online classes, but instead told TMZ he got his credits because of charity work he did for the school. One of the baseball coaches, he said, "worked the principal," telling him, "Hey, he's donated a lot of dough to the school and he does a lot of stuff in the community; it makes perfect sense to just give it to him."



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