Mark Wahlberg, entourage in tow, to get MTV’s ‘Generation’ award

Mark Wahlberg once produced a show for a top-tier cable network that was inspired by his own experiences in Hollywood.

Now another top-tier cable network will tip its hat to Wahlberg and his experiences in Hollywood--just as he promotes a movie based on that show.

That entertainment-world ouroboros will raise its head for the “Entourage” producer at next month’s MTV Movie Awards, where Wahlberg, 42, will accept its “Generation” prize, the show’s version of a lifetime achievement award.

“Entourage” stars Adrian Grenier, Kevin Connolly, Jerry Ferrara and Kevin Dillon will present the award and complete the bro chain (Grenier’s Vincent Chase character on the popular HBO series is partly based on a young Wahlberg). The “Entourage” movie hits in June, two months after the April 13 MTV Movie Awards.

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The “MTV Generation Award” is a bit of an odd bird. MTV prefers to give it to a bankable, if not venerable, A-lister but can’t go too far out of its demographic; you won’t see Judi Dench winning it anytime soon. So the network ends up with relatively younger actors who started early (Reese Witherspoon at 35) or (slightly) older people who’ve been around a long while (Sandra Bullock at 46). Jamie Foxx won it last year.

It’s not clear exactly what the criteria are either (though a big movie just out or coming out seems to help). But Wahlberg has been working hard — he had the B movie hit “2 Guns” last summer, the well-regarded war drama “Lone Survivor” this winter and will unveil “Transformers: Age of Extinction” this summer, with “Ted 2” next year. It also seems to help if one had youthful cachet with one MTV generation or another, as Wahlberg did from his Marky Mark days.

MTV President Stephen Friedman noted the actor-producer’s career, which does look pretty wide-ranging when it’s all laid out. “Mark Wahlberg is the definition of a modern day Renaissance Man: from Dirk Diggler to ‘The Departed,’ ‘The Basketball Diaries’ to ‘Ted,’ ‘Entourage’ to ‘The Fighter,’ in front of the camera and behind – he’s done it all and he’s always memorable,” Friedman said in a release.

The network also touted that the “Vast of HBO’s ‘Entourage’ to Reunite On-Stage for First Time to Present the Award,” though that doesn’t exactly seem historic given that they’ve already convened on set many days while shooting the “Entourage” movie.

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