Donnie Wahlberg is a man of many talents. He proved he had the right stuff as a member of boy band New Kids on the Block. He soon parlayed that into a lucrative acting career, starring in a number of properties, like “The Sixth Sense” and “Saw II.” However, his biggest role to date is undoubtedly Danny Reagan in the hit CBS police procedural “Blue Bloods.”

It’s provided him steady work since 2010, but he’s found the time to pursue other ventures, including the true-crime podcast series “Very Scary People.” The podcast follows the twisted lives of some of the most sinister individuals in recent memory, going through all of their criminal acts and how they were eventually brought to justice. It’s well within Wahlbeg’s wheelhouse as he plays a member of the NYPD on “Blue Bloods,” locking bad guys behind bars. And even he admits that if it wasn’t for the success of the police procedural, he probably wouldn’t have had the opportunity to lend his talents to “Very Scary People.”

Blue Bloods gave Donnie Wahlberg credibility for Very Scary People

Donnie Wahlberg has played Danny Reagan on hundreds of episodes of “Blue Bloods,” and the good times are only going to keep coming. The show has been renewed for Season 14 (with a pay cut for the cast), but when he’s not busy putting on an NYPD uniform and running through the streets, he’s probably sitting in a booth narrating another haunting tale that’s all too real. Wahlberg is the host of “Very Scary People,” and he credits his time in that show to “Blue Bloods.”

He admitted to PEOPLE, “I think in some ways Blue Bloods prepared the audience for me to be the host of Very Scary People.” It makes sense; people had gotten used to letting Wahlberg into their homes for over a decade as Danny Reagan, so it wasn’t a stretch for him to discuss the macabre on a podcast. He went on to say, “Because of the role I play on Blue Bloods, it lent a sort of credibility, I think, to me being the host of this show.”

And while fans wait for “Blue Bloods” Season 14 to get off the ground, at least they have plenty of episodes of “Very Scary People” to keep them entertained in the interim.