“The Sixth Sense” is the movie that put M. Night Shyamalan on the map, and is the reason we still hear the phrase “I see dead people” quoted to this day. Starring Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Olivia Williams, and Toni Collette, “The Sixth Sense” is about a young boy named Cole (Osment) and his psychologist Malcolm Crowe (Willis), though this boy is far from a typical case because he has the uncanny and harrowing ability to perceive the spirits of the deceased, which he struggles to comprehend.
Donnie Wahlberg plays Detective Danny Reagan on the popular “Blue Bloods” television show. A no-nonsense police officer, Danny tends to bend and push the very boundaries as to what a law enforcement agent is allowed to do. This sometimes gets him in trouble with his superiors, but when your dad is the police commissioner, one tends to get away with just a little bit more than one should. What may come as a surprise, though, is that the actor behind the rough-and-tumble detective played a small — but incredibly powerful and important — role in “The Sixth Sense.” So, who exactly did Wahlberg play?
Donnie Wahlberg played Vincent Gray in The Sixth Sense
Donnie Wahlberg is almost unrecognizable as Vincent Gray in “The Sixth Sense” (via IMDb). Appearing during the first act of the movie, Vincent is a former child patient of Malcolm’s, but now the young boy is a full-grown and emaciated adult that breaks into Malcolm’s home during a moment of celebration. His shy mannerisms mixed with an explosive anger clearly display the instability of the character, as he demands why Malcolm didn’t help him, nor believe him. His role ends as he shoots Malcolm in the stomach and then dies by suicide, which is the major catalyst to events in “The Sixth Sense.”
In an interview with USA Today commemorating the 20 year anniversary of the movie, Wahlberg talked about how he engaged in method acting to get into the role and said, “I starved myself. I would fast for two days, then only eat steamed cabbage and drink beet juice. I would chew gum all day and I would literally walk around the streets to burn thousands of calories. I didn’t shower for weeks. I just wasn’t taking care of myself and I was a loner. That was as close as I could come to this guy. I definitely had to suffer in the only way I could.” It certainly paid off, because his actions as Vincent set the tone for the rest of the movie, and laid the groundwork for one of the best twists in cinematic history.
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.