 The Turtle character was based on Mark Wahlberg's real-life assistant, Donnie "Donkey" Carroll, who died on December 18, 2005 of an asthma attack, at age 39.At one point, Carroll and Wahlberg had a dispute because Carroll claimed Wahlberg never paid him for appropriating his life story for "Entourage", while compensating others, but the two remained friends.During his 14 years working as Wahlberg's personal assistant, Carroll tried to launch a rap music career under the stage name Murda One.